ani 


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s  , 


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BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


~        '          \ 


COPYRIGHTED  isae. 


BUFFALO  BILL  TO  THE  RESCUE. 


BILL, 

(HON.  W.  F.  CODY.) 

A  FULL  AND  COMPLETE  HISTORY  OF  THE)  RENOWNED  PIONEER  QUARTETTE, 

BOONE,  CROCKETT,  CARSON  AND  BUFFALO  BILL. 

R«plete  with  Graphic  Descriptions  of  WiW  Life  and  Thrilling  Adventures  by  Famous  Heroes  of  the  Frontier, 


A  Record  of  Exciting  Events  on  the  Western  Borders  Pushed  Westward 
to  the  Sea:    Massacres,  Desperate  Battles,  Extraordinary  Bravery, 
Marvelous     Fortitude,      Astounding     Heroism,      Grand    Hunts, 
Savage    Encounters,     Adventures    by    Flood    and    Field, 
Rollicking     Anecdotes,     Tales     of     Sorrow,      Droll 
Stories,    Curious    Escapades,    and   a    Melange 
of    Incidents    that    make    up    the    Melo- 
drama of   Civilization  in  its    March 
over  Mountains  and  Prairies 
to    the    Pacific. 

INCLUDING  A   DESCRIPTION  OF 

BUFFALO  BILL'S  CONQUESTS  IN  ENGLAND 

WITH  HIS  WILD  WEST   EXHIBITION,    WHERE    ROYALTY     FROM    ALL  THE  EUROPEAN 

NATIONS  PAID  HIM  A  GENEROUS   HOMAGE  AND  MADE  HIS  WONDERFUL 

SHOW  THE  GREATEST  SUCCESS   OF   MODERN  TIMES. 

SUPERBLY  ILLUSTRATED  WITH 

ORICINPCL.   IL-LWSTRTTTIONS 

MADE  ESPECIALLY  FOR  THE  BOOK. 


HISTORICAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
Philadelphia,   Pa. 


COPYRIGHT,  1888,  BY  H.  S,  SMITH, 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED. 


•at*  The  illustrations  in  this  work  being  from  original  drawings,  and  protected 
•ay  copyright,  their  reproduction  in  any  form  is  unlawful,  and  notice  is  hereby  givef 
th*»t  persons  guilty  of  infringing  the  copyright  thereof  will  be  prosecuted. 


75" 


THE  AMERICAN  AND    ENGLISH    PUBLICS,   AT    WHOSE    GENEROUS    HANDS  1 
HAVE  RECEIVED  SO   MANY  FAVORS,    HOSPITABLE  ATTENTION 
AND  NUMEROUS  SPECIAL  KINDNESSES  J 


TO   THE    ARMY    OP   THE    FRONTIER,   THE    BRAVE    COMRADES   AND    PIONEERS 

WHOSE    VALOROUS    DEEDS,   THOUGH  UNWRITTEN    IN  THEIR  COUNTRY'S 

ANNALS,   AND    WHOSE  GRAVES  ARE  UNMARKED    SAVE    BY    THE 

SOUGHING  OAK  OR  THE  MODEST  DAISY,   BUT  WHO   HAVE 

LEFT  THE  HERITAGE   OF  A   MILLION  HAPPY  AND 

PROSPEROUS  HOMES  IN  THE  REDEEMED  WEST, 

THIS  BOOK 

JS  INSCRIBED,  BY  ONE  WHO  HOLDS  THEIR  COURAGEOUS  LIVES  IN  GRAT«#UI, 

REMEMBRANCE. 


W.  F.  CODY  (BUFFALO  BILL). 


Copyright,  1891,  by 

HISTORICAL  PUBLISHING  Co. 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


PUBLISHED  AND  MANUFACTURED  BY 

HISTORICAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


•HE  task  of  writing  the  lives  of  the 
three  greatest  pioneers  of  western 
settlement  has  been  assumed  by  me 
with  no  little  diffidence,  surrounded 
as  the  work  has  been  with  many 
hard  disadvantages,  and  obstacles  of 
no  ordinary  character.  Chief  of 
these  is  the  disadvantage  of  poor 
literary  qualification,  as  the  opportunities  for  acquiring  an  education 
were  denied  me,  except  such  as  I  could  obtain  by  unaided  endeavors 
and  a  favorable  association  with  ^°,fined  persons  in  latter  years.  The 
obstacles  of  which  I  complain  are  found  in  the  confusion  of  informa- 
tion growing  out  of  the  fact  that  the  several  biographers  of  Boone, 
Crockett  and  Carson  have  generally  made  quite  as  much  use  of 
fiction  as  of  actual,  verified  incident  in  making  up  their  history  of 
these  three  prominent  characters.  The  idle  stories  thus  incorporated 
in  their  work  being  left  so  long  uncontradicted  have  become  an 
almost  inseparable  part  of  frontier  history,  since  few  records  are 
accessible,  or  were  ever  made,  from  which  a  truthful  account  of 
the  valorous  deeds  and  eventful  lives  of  these  heroes  may  be 
obtained.  The  work  thus  submitted,  however,  has  been  conscien- 
tiously performed,  and  the  care  exercised,  as  well  as  the  information 

(Hi) 


Iv  FEEFACK. 

I  have  collected  in  the  course  of  many  years,  lead  me  to  believe 
that  the  facts  we  here  presented  as  nearly  free  from  exaggeration 
as  it  is  possible  to  give  them,  however  great  may  be  the  study, 
investigation  and  care  devoted  to  the  work. 

The  life  of  Daniel  Boone  is  a  particularly  difficult  one  to  write. 
He  lived  at  a  time  and  in  a  community  that  permitted  of  little 
attention  to  the  recording  of  events,  and  thus  the  date,  and  even 
place  of  his  birth,  is  made  a  matter  for  controversy.  Nor  were 
really  valorous  deeds  accounted  as  worthy  of  perpetuation,  since  the 
times  were  such  as  compelled  every  man  to  be  a  hero^a  fighter 
ready  to  meet  on  even  or  uneven  ground  the  wily  savage  that 
kirked  about  each  frontier  cabin  seeking  a  vantage  stroke  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  settlement  by  merciless  massacre.  The  modesty 
imbued  in  his  nature  in  earlier  years  was  little  changed  even  by 
the  plaudits  of  his  admiring  countrymen,  when  he  was  recognized 
as  a  leading  instrument  in  the  opening  up  and  settlement  of  the 
Great  West.  The  caution  necessary  when  surrounded  by  savage 
foes  made  of  Boone  a  curiously  quiet  man,  little  given  to  speech, 
and  less  inclined  to  speak  of  the  incidents  of  his  strangely  event- 
ful life.  My  chief  reliance  for  information  concerning  him  has, 
therefore,  been  authenticated  State  annals,  verified  by  circumstances 
and  incontestable  statements  of  his  descendants  interested  in  preserv- 
ng  a  truthful,  though  necessarily  fragmentary,  record  of  this  dis- 
tinguished man.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune,  as  a  partial  recom- 
pense for  the  time  expended  in  running  down  idle  stories  concern- 
ing adventures  he  is  said  to  have  participated  in,  to  meet  some 
half  a  dozen  pioneers  of  Missouri  who  had  been  intimate  neighbors 
and  friends  of  Boone,  and  to  whom  he  related  many  incidents  of 
great  historical  interest  that  I  have  been  permitted  to  record  for 
what  I  believe  is  the  first  time. 

The  life  of  Crockett  is  accessible  in  an  elaborate  work  written 
by  his  own  hand,  though  this  autobiography  has  been  furbished 
up  and  garnished  with  not  a  few  unsubstantial  tales  that,  despite 
their  frequent  exposure,  still  cling  tenaciously  to  nearly  all  his 
biographies,  but  which  I  have  eliminated,  or  repeated  only  to  deny. 

Carson's  character  was  in  more  than  one  respect  enigmatic,  and 
many  of  the  difficulties  encountered  in  preparing  an  authentic  life 


PREFACE.  V 

of  Boone  are  found  interposing  between  the  biograf  her  and  Car- 
son. Modesty  is  a  becoming  trait,  except  when  it  r$rves  to  ob- 
scure important  incidents  in  the  life  of  a  justly  historic  per- 
sonage, and  in  Carson  this  obstacle  to  a  proper  knowledge  of  his 
career  is  particularly  conspicuous.  It  was  my  fortunate  privilege 
to  enjoy  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Carson,  but  this  intimacy 
gave  me  little  advantage,  for  he  seldom  spoke  of  his  own 
deeds,  though  I  hardly  think  he  was  so  different  from  other  men 
as  to  be  wholly  indifferent  to  praise.  Indeed,  his  desire  for  pro- 
motion, as  explained  in  his  biography,  proves  that  he  was  suscep- 
tible of  the  pride  that  grows  on  exaltation. 

A  considerable  part  of  Carson's  life  was  spent  in  the  service  of 
the  Government,  and  from  the  departmental  records  I  have  therefore 
extracted  .much  of  the  information  given  herein  concerning  him, 
and  which  I  find  frequently  conflicts  with  the  statements  of  those 
who  in  writing  his  life  have  made  facts  subservient  to  wild  exag- 
geration; just  as  many  romancers  have  done  while  soberly  pretend- 
ing to  record  the  incidents  in  my  own  life.  Many  of  those  who  were 
Carson's  intimates,  and  who  were  his  comrades  in  service  in  the 
far  West,  were  also  friends  of  mine,  and  from  them  I  gathered 
much  reliable  information  concerning  his  adventures  that  I  treasured 
up,  so  to  speak,  until  this  opportunity  was  afforded  to  give  then* 
currency. 

While  writing  principally  biographically,  I  have  sought  to  describl 
that  great  general  movement  westward — that  irresistible  wave  of 
emigration  which,  arrested  for  a  time  by  the  Alleghenies,  rose  until 
at  last  it  broke  over  and  spread  away  across  mountain,  stream 
and  plain,  leaving  States  in  its  wake,  until  stopped  by  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific. 

The  evolution  of  government  and  of  civilization,  and  the 
adaptation  of  one  to  the  other,  are  interesting  to  the  student  of  his- 
tory ;  but  particularly  fascinating  is  the  story  of  the  reclamation  of 
the  Great  West  and  the  supplanting  of  the  wild  savages  that  from 
primeval  days  were  lords  of  the  country  but  are  now  become 
wards  of  the  Government,  whose  guardianship  they  were  forced  to 
recognize.  This  story  is  one  well  calculated  to  inspire  a  feeling  of 
pride  even  in  the  breasts  of  those  whose  sentimentality  impels  to 


VI  PREFACE. 

commiserate  the  hard  lot  of  the  poor  Indian ;  for,  rising  above  the 
formerly  neglected  prairies  of  the  West  are  innumerable  monu- 
ments of  thrift,  industry,  intelligence,  and  all  the  contributory 
comforts  and  luxuries  of  a  peaceful  and  God-fearing  civilization ; 
those  evidences  that  proclaim  to  a  wondering  world  the  march  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  towards  the  attainment  of  perfect  citizenship 
and  liberal,  free  and  stable  government. 

For  the  small  part  I  have  taken  in  redeeming  the  West  from 
savagery,  I  am  indebted  to  circumstances  rather  than  to  a  natural, 
inborn  inclination  for  the  strifes  inseparable  from  the  life  I  was 
almost  forced  to  choose.  But  to  especially  good  fortune  must  I  make 
my  acknowledgments,  which  protected  me  or  preserved  my  life  a 
hundred  times  when  the  very  h?nd  of  vengeful  fate  appeared  to  lower 
its  grasp  above  my  head,  and  hope  seemed  a  mockery  that  I  had 
turned  my  back  upon.  Good  fortune  has  also  stood  ever  respon- 
sive to  my  call  since  I  first  came  before  the  public,  and  to  the 
generous  American  and  English  peoples,  as  well  as  to  kind  fortune, 
I  here  pour  out  a  full  measure  of  profound  thanks  and  hearty 
appreciation,  and  shall  hold  them  gratefully  in  my  memory  as  a 
remembrance  of  old  friends,  until  the  drum  taps  "lights  out" 
at  the  close  of  the  evening  of  my  eventfri  life. 


CONTENTS. 


LIKE  OK  DANIKIv  BOONE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

America  in  the  Early  Days — Contact  of  the  White  and  Red  Races — How  the 
Pioneer  Developed  into  a  Hero — Birth  of  Daniel  Boone — The  Ancestors  of 
Boone — Daniel's  First  Adventure— Becomes  a  Hunter  at  an  Early  Age — Seeks 
a  Hiding  place  on  the  Schuylkill— Boone  Plays  a  Joke  on  His  Bibulous  Teacher 
— Removal  of  the  Boone  Family  to  North  Carolina — The  Cherokee  War.  17-25 

CHAPTER  II. 

Explorations  in  the  West — A  History  of  the  First  Expeditions— Dispute  as  to 
when  Boone  first  Visited  Kentucky — The  Record  Found  on  a  Tree — Boone's 
Autobiography — The  Happy  Hunting  Grounds  of  Kentucky — Finley  the  Earliest 
Visitor  to  Kentucky — Boone  and  Companions  Seek  the  Far  West—The  Dark 
and  Bloody  Ground— Why  so  Called — Capture  of  Boone  by  Indians — A  Won- 
derful Escape — Boone's  Companions  Mysteriously  Missing — The  Burned 
Cabin 26-32 

CHAPTER  III. 

Alone  in  the  Wilderness — Death  of  Stuart  at  the  Hands  of  Indians — Boone 
Left  Alone — The  Fate  of  His  Companions — Return  of  Boone's  Brother  with 
Glad  Tidings 33~37 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Boone's  Family  Removes  to  Kentucky — Attack  of  the  Indians— Earliest 
Efforts  at  Settlement— War  against  the  Shawanese— Battle  of  Pleasant  Point—- 
Another Exploration  of  Kentucky — Building  of  Boonesborough  Fort.  .  .  38-44 

CHAPTER  V. 

Description  of  Boonesborough — Settlement  at  Harrodsburg — Founding  of 
Bryan's  Station — Founding  of  Lexington — Capture  of  Three  White  Girls  by 
Indians— Pursuit  of  the  Captors — Attack  on  the  Indians — Rescue  of  the 
Girls 45-52 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Troubles  Begin  to  Multiply — Annoyed  by  the  Indians — Alarm  of  the  Settlers 
—Attack  on  Boonesborough — Errors  in  Boone's  Autobiography.  ....  52-57 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Boone  again  Made  Prisoner  by  the  Indians —  Is  Adopted  by  the  Shawanese — 
Wonderful  Escape  of  Boone — A  Brush  with  the  Indians—Siege  of  Boones- 
borough   57-67 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Boone  is  Ambushed  and  Robbed — Reflections  on  His  Honesty — Killing  of 
#oone'«  Brother — Rescue  af  Boone  bv  Ken  ton—Siege  <ir  8rvan  s  Station-- 


Vlii  CONTENTS. 

The  Brave  Water  Carriers — Bringing  on  the  Engagement — Ambush  of  a  Relief 
Party — Girty  Compelled  to  Retreat 67-81 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Pursuit  of  the  Indians — A  Critical  Situation — Boone's  Counsel  Disregarded—- 
The Attack— The  Slaughter— Boone's  Report  of  the  Battle 82-90 

CHAPTER  X. 

A  Retaliatory  Expedition — Atrocities  Perpetrated  by  the  Indians — Major  Bol- 
lard's Great  Fight — Massacre  of  the  Ballard  Family — A  Battle  Commemorated 
by  the  Kentucky  Legislature — A  Negro  Defends  a  Family — Heroism  of  a  Wo- 
man— Flat-boat  Emigration — Massacre  of  a  Family  and  Capture  of  Two  Girls — 
Pursuit  of  the  Savages — Rescue  of  the  Girls — Slaughter  of  the  Indians — First 
Marriage  in  Cincinnati — The  Ill-fated  Crawford  Expedition — A  Disastrous  Re- 
treat— Burning  of  Col.  Crawford — Death  of  Simon  Girty 91-111 

CHAPTER  XL 

Cessation  of  Hostility  and  a  Period  of  Prosperity — Boone  Engages  in  Agri- 
cultural Pursuits — Boone  Discomfits  Four  Indians — Another  Threatened  Inva- 
sion— Trouble  with  the  Indians  Renewed — Attack  on  a  Settler's  Cabin — A 
Horrible  Story  of  a  Massacre — Killing  of  the  Captive  Girl — Capture  of  Simon 
Kenton  and  His  Punishment — A  Mazeppa  Ride — A  Treaty  of  Peace  that 
Brought  No  Relief. 112-132 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Last  Days  of  Boone — He  is  Impoverished  and  Removes  to  Virginia — Offers 
of  Assistance  from  the  Spanish — His  Removal  to  Missouri — Acquiring  Lands  in 
the  West— Boone's  Autograph  Letter— The  Troubles  that  Beset  Him— His  Peti- 
tions to  Congress — Restrictions  on  Religious  Worship — Attack  on  the  Post  of 
St.  Louis — Church  Services  in  the  Early  Days — How  Boone  Paid  His  Debts — 
Death  of  His  Wife;— How  He  Passed  His  Latter  Days— Boone  Marks  the  Site  for 
His  Grave— Painting  of  Boone's  Portrait — Death  of  Boone — Public  Services 
over  His  Remains — The  Remains  Honored  by  Kentucky — Impressive  Services 
Twenty-five  Years  after  His  Death— The  Body  Removed  to  Kentucky.  132-155 


OK  DAVY  CROCPCKTT. 

CHAPTER  I. 

A  Unique  Character  in  American  History— Murder  of  Crockett's  Grandparents 
by  Indians — Young  Crockett's  Exploit  at  School — Runs  Away  from  Home — 
Davy  Earns  His  Freedom — Disappointment  in  Love-making — Courting  under 
Difficulties — Result  of  a  Wolf  Drive — Married  at  Last 157-165 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Creek  War— Attack  on  Fort  Mimms— The  Massacre— Crockett  Enlists 
as  a  Volunteer — Crockett  in  Peril — A  Dangerous  Reconnoiter — Crockett  Be- 
comes Hunter  for  the  Army — Crockett'*}  First  Battle — A  Terrible  Slaughter—- 
The Battle  of  Talladega — Dreadful  Slaughter  of  the  Indians — Gen.  Jackson  has 
Reasons  for  Swearing 166-181 

CHAPTER  III. 

Resumption  of  Hostilities— A  Ground  Hog  Case — A  Big  Climb  for  a  Little 
Squirrel — Decapitating  Two  Indians — Outrages  by  Indians — Murder  of  an  Irish 
Family— Jackson  Makes  a  Treaty  with  the  Indians 182-186 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER  IV. 

A  Philosopher  !n  Affliction— Death  of  Crockett's  Wife— His  Singular  Court- 
ship and  Second  Marriage — Crockett  as  a  Magistrate — Some  Queer  Methods  of 
Administering  the  Law — Making  Returns  in  "Verbal  Writings  " — Crockett  a 
Candidate  for  the  Legislature— His  Woful  Ignorance — An  Original  Canvass— 
Story  of  the  Empty  Barrel — Discomfitted  by  a  Hard  Question — His  Election — 
Crockett's  Wonderful  Wit — His  Convulsing  Story  of  the  Three  Dutch  Millers — 
His  Droll  Story  of  the  Iron  Hot  and  the  Iron  Cold — Crockett  Bankrupted  by  a 
Freshet — His  Sacrifices  to  Pay  Debts — Removal  to  the  Wilderness — Roust- 
about on  a  Steamboat— Preparing  for  a  Hunt — An  Extraordinary  Journey  after 
a  Keg  of  Powder — Indomitable  Determination  of  the  Man 187-201 

CHAPTER  V. 

Crockett's  Great  Beat  Hunts—Attacked  by  a  Wounded  Bear—"  I  Got  Back 
in  all  Sorts  of  a  Hurry" — Again  a  Candidate — The  Bear  Hunter  to  the  Front — 
The  Man  from  the  Cave — Again  Elected — Becomes  a  Candidate  for  Congress— 
His  Opposition  to  Jackson— An  Extraordinary  Bear  Hunt — Several  Thrilling 
Incidents — A  Curious  Habit  of  Bears — Look  out  for  the  Bears — A  Rough  and 
Tumble  Fight — Crockett  Beards  a  Bear  in  its  Den — A  Funny  Exercise  to  Keep 
Warm — An  Earthquake — Wonderful  Result  of  the  Hunt — One  Hundred  and 
Five  Bears  Killed 202-219 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Crockett's  Disastrous  Flat-boat  Experience — Effect  of  His  Defeat  for  Con- 
gress— Afloat  on  the  Mississippi — A  Hair-Breadth  Escape  —Crockett  Elected 
to  Congress— Joke  of  the  Guinea-Hens — Crockett's  Dinner  with  President 
Adams — A  Cruel  Story  at  Crockett's  Expense — Bring  Back  the  Goose — 
Crockett  Re-elected  to  Congress — His  Opposition  to  Jackson 219-230 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Grand  Ovations  Tendered  Crockett — A  Tour  of  the  Eastern  Cities — Crockett's 
First  Visit  to  a  Big  City — Some  Droll  Observations — His  Idea  of  Railroad 
Travel— Crockett  at  the  Theatre— Too  Many  Short  Skirts  and  not  Enough  Plain 
Music— Temptation  of  Mint  Employes— Crockett  in  New  York— His  Trip  to 
Boston  and  Lowell — Presented  with  a  Rifle  by  Philadelphians — Crockett's  Story 
of  How  He  Got  Out  of  a  Quandary — Banquets  and  Speeches  at  Pittsburg,  Cin- 
cinnati and  Louisville 230-241 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Crockett  Again  on  the  Stump — His  Great  Coon-skin  Trick — Bushwacking 
for  Votes— Crockett  Overwhelmed  by.  his  Defeat— A  Pathetic  Poem  .  .  242-248 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Crockett  Enters  the  War  for  Texas  Independence — A  Punch  and  Judy  Exhibi- 
tion in  Little  Rock—An  Arkansas  Traveller— A  Moralizing  Tract  Peddler— A 
Laughable  Situation — Crockett  Banqueted — An  Arkansas  Orchestra — Crockett 
Again  Meets  the  Fiddling  Parson — Fiddling  to  the  Fishes — A  Stag  Dance  in  the 
Wilderness — Some  Religious  Reflections — Crockett  Exposes  the  Gambler- 
Drinks  All  Around— The  Juggler  Follows  Crockett  to  Texas— The  Bee  Hunter 
—A  Fight  in  the  Streets— Cooling  His  Vociferous  Ardor 249-266 

CHAPTER  X. 

En  route  for  the  Alamo— Through  Haunts  of  the  Wolf  and  Bear— A  Sweet 
Singer's  Lays  to  his  Lady  Love — Meeting  with  a  Pirate — "  I  Think  You  Had 
Better  Take  some  Supper  with  Us"— A  Hurricane  of  Buffaloes — In  Pursuit  of 
the  Game — Lost  on  the  Prairie — A  Fight  with  a  Mexican  Lion — An  Adventure 


X  CONTENTS. 

with  Comanche  Indians — The  Juggler  Taken  by  Surprise — A  Fight  with  Mexi- 
cans  267-285 

CHAPTER  XI. 

At  the  Alamo— A  Convivial  Party — Brave  Defenders  of  the  Alamo — Descrip- 
tion of  the  Alamo — Massacre  of  a  Squad  of  Texans — Besieged  by  the  Mexicans 
—Resolved  to  Die  Like  Brave  Men— Attack  on  the  Alamo— Crockett's  Great 
Shot — Capture  of  the  Alamo — Massacre  of  the  Garrison — Heroic  Death  of 
Crockett — Mutilation  of  the  Dead  Bodies — Story  of  a  Mexican  Fifer — Horrible 
Torture  of  Col.  Bowie— A  Funeral  Pyre 286-300 

CHAPTER  XII. 

How  the  News  Was  Brought  to  the  States— Copy  of  the  First  Dispatch— 
Greeley's  Eulogy  on  Crockett— Character  of  Crockett— Compared  with  Other 
Great  Men 301-306 


LIKK  OK  KIT  CARSON. 

CHAPTER  L 

Heroes  that  Prepared  the  Way  for  Western  Settlement — A  Tribute  to  the 
Unremembered — Early  Life  of  Carson — Anomalous  Character  of  Carson — Mis- 
souri in  the  Early  Days — Kit  Bound  to  Service  as  a  Saddler — Carson  Amputates 
the  Arm  of  a  Wounded  Comrade — Acquires  the  Mexican  Language — Becomes 
Interpreter  to  a  Rich  Merchant — Joins  a  Band  of  Trappers — His  First  Fight 
with  Indians — Nearing  Death's  Door — Robbed  by  Indians — Carson  Pursues  the 
Thieves — A  Charge  into  the  Indian  Camp — Carson  Forced  to  Flee  from  Santa 
Fe — On  Another  Trapping  Expedition — A  Fight  with  Indians — Pursued  by 
Crow  Indians — Wounded 307-318 

CHAPTER  II. 

A  Rash  Undertaking — Killing  an  Indian  at  Long  Range — Thrilling  Adven- 
tures with  a  Grizzly  Bear — Carson  Wounded  While  Saving  a  Friend — Carson's 
Duel  with  a  Frenchman— At  the  Point  of  Starvation — Extraordinary  Bravery 
of  Carson  in  Saving  a  Comrade — Carson's  Terrible  Fight  with  a  Mountain  Lion 
— Carson's  Marriage  to  an  Indian  Girl 318-333 

CHAPTER  III. 

Carson  Engaged  to  Guide  Fremont's  Expedition — An  Exciting  Buffalo 
Hunt — Pursued  by  a  Buffalo— Guide  to  Fremont's  Second  Expedition — Priva* 
tions  on  the  March — A  Thrilling  Incident  on  the  Return  Trip — Attack  on  the 
Indians — A  Horrible  Sight 334~343 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  War  in  California — Carson  Again  Joins  Fremont — A  Fierce  Battle  with 
Indians— Carson  as  Dispatch  Bearer — Massacre  by  the  Indians  and  Carson's 
Narrow  Escape — Carson's  Revenge — Carson's  Duel  with  an  Indian— Hostilities 
Begun  with  the  Mexicans — The  Bear  Flag  Raised 344-352 

CHAPTER  V. 

Carson's  Service  as  a  Scout  aiid  Guide — Meeting  with  Gen.  Kearney — Re- 
turning to  California — A  Terrible  Situation — Carson  Saves  the  Command — 
Capture  of  Los  Angeles — Surrender  of  the  Mexican  Forces — Fremont's  Wild 
Cohort — Their  Appearance  Described  by  an  Englishman „  .  353-361 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Carson's  Fourth  Overland  Journey — The  Mexican  Cabelledo — Precautions  Used 
in  Passing  through  a  Hostile  Country — The  Journey  of  Death — An  Alarm  in 
Camp — Disgusting  Habits  of  Digger  Indians — A  Frightful  Spectacle — Won- 
derful Heroism  ofTarson  and  Godey— Bleaching  Bones  of  a  Murdered  Party— 
Wreck  of  the  RafWCarson  Proceeds  to  Washington — Is  Lionized  by  St.  Louis- 
ians — Grand  Reception  in  Washington 362-376 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Carson  again  Called  into  Action— Founding  a  Town — Indian  Outrages- 
Murder  of  a  Merchant's  Family — Carson  Heading  a  Pursuing  Party — Attacking 
the  ^ndians — A  Marvellous  Escape — Another  Fight  with  Indians — Carson  again 
Resumes  Trapping — Drives  a  Herd  of  Sheep  to  California — Old  Friendships 
Renewed 377-384 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Carson's  Career  as  an  Indian  Fighter — Entrusted  with  an  Important  Com- 
mand— Indian  Depredations — Battle  with  the  Mescaleros — A  Wholesale 
Slaughter  of  Mexican  Traders  by  Indians — Expedition  against  the  Nayajoes — 
The  Impregnable  Canyon  de  Chelly — Carson  the  First  to  Accomplish  its  Pas- 
sage— A  Wonderful  Campaign — Carson  Especially  Complimented — Submission 
of  the  Navajoes — Carson  Recommends  the  Reservation  System — War  with  the 
^iiowas— Carson  Brings  the  Great  Tribes  into  Council— The  Last  Days  of 
Carson— His  Character  as  a  Pioneer , 385-399 


OK  BUKKALO 

CHAPTER  I. 

Incidents  of  My  Childhood— Iowa  in  the  Early  Days— Removed  to  Kansas- 
Boyhood  Experiences  in  Kansas — A  Barbecue  to  the  Indians— The  Tide  of 
Immigration — Warfare  on  the  Border — The  Stabbing  of  My  Father — Father's 
Escape  from  a  Mob — Renewed  Efforts  to  Kill  Father — Efforts  to  Make  Kansas 
a  Slave  State — My  Engagement  with  the  Great  Overland  Freighters — A  Mob 
Outwitted  by  My  Mother— Another  Attempt  on  Father's  Life 401-420 

CHAPTER  II. 

My  First  Love  Affair — A  Bloody  Affray  at  School — Pursued  by  the  Wounded 
Boy's  Father — In  Service  on  the  Plains — My  First  Fight  with  Indians — How  I 
Killed  My  First  Indian— A  Feeling  of  Relief— On  the  Road  to  Salt  Lake— De- 
scription of  a  Bull  Outfit— The  Trail— A  Buffalo  Stampede— Captured  by  Dan- 
ites — Burning  of  the  Train  by  Mormons— On  the  Point  of  Starvation— Attacked 
by  Indians— A  Timely  Rescue— Engage  in  Trapping— A  Horrible  Discovery— 
Off  for  Pike's  Peak— Engagement  as  Pony  Express  Rider 421-448 

CHAPTER  III. 

Accidents  and  Escapes — Trapping  on  the  Republican — I  Break  My  Leg — My 
Partner  Goes  in  Search  of  Help — A  Desperate  Situation — Objectionable  Com- 
pany— Indians  Take  Possession  of  My  Dug-out — Return  of  Harrington — A 
Joyous  Meeting—  Our  Return  Home — Death  of  Brave  Halfrington  .  .  449~55^ 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Adventures  on  the  Overland  Road— A  Pony  Express  Rider  Again— Pursued 
by  Indians — Attack  on  a  Stage  Coach — A  Charge  through  the  Indian  Camp  — 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

A  General  Drunk  but  Only  One  Murder — A  Hunt  for  Bear — A  Robber's  Haunt 
Discovered — In  a  Tight  Place — Killing  One  of  the  Robbers — My  Escape — A 
Newly-Made  Brave 457-469 

CHAPTER  V. 

An  Inglorious  Service  —Bushwhacking  in  Missouri — A  Meeting  with  Wild 
Bill — Busted  at  a  Horse-race — A  Duel  in  the  Street 470-474 

CHAPTER  VI. 

How  I  Became  a  Soldier — With  the  Jayhawkers — A  Singular  Meeting  with 
Wild  Bill— Acting  as  a  Spy— A  Pleasant  Little  Episode — A  Wonderful  Es- 
cape    474-480 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Courtship  and  Marriage — My  Bridal  Trip — Taken  for  a  Desperado — A  Party 
of  our  Own — A  Close  Call — Keeping  an  Hotel — Acting  as  a  Guide  to  Custer— A 
Fight  with  the  Indians— A  Cholera  Outbreak 481-488 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  Millionaire  in  Prospective — A  Howl  from  Rome — A  Gentleman  that  Just 
Dropped  In — Contractor  on  the  K.  P.  R.  R. — A  Little  Sport  with  the  Hostiles 
. — Brigham  to  the  Front— A  Pretty  Buffalo  Drive — A  Big  Surprise  for  the  Offi- 
cers— In  Pursuit  of  Indians— An  Excited  Colored  Gentleman — How  I  Re- 
ceived the  Title  "  Buffalo  Bill,"— A  Race  for  My  Scalp— A  Great  Shot— Sauce 
for  the  Gander — Run  to  Cover  by  Indians — Sending  up  a  Signal  for 
Help 490-506 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Champion  Buffalo  Killer — A  Match  with  Comstock — A  Dash  into  the  Herd — 
An  Exhibition  for  the  Ladies — Riding  a  Naked  Horse  into  the  Herd — Tragic 
Death  of  Comstock — Brigham  and  I  Part  Company — A  Trick  of  Brig- 
ham's  507-514 

CHAPTER  X. 

Acting  as  Special  Scout — Captured  by  Indians — A  Clever  Ruse  Secures  My 
Escape— Stretching  My  Mule — Ambushing  the  Pursuers— Chief  Satanta 
Threatens  the  Post — Going  on  the  War-Path — Dispatch  Bearer—  Off  in  the 
Dark— Stumbling  onto  a  Hornet's  Nest — An  Interview  with  Sheridan — A 
Long  Ride — A  Dangerous  Undertaking — A  Provoking  Mule — Getting  Satisfac- 
tion    515-533 

CHAPTER  XI. 

My  Appointment  as  Chief  of  Scouts — Running  into  a  Band  of  Indians — 
Bringing  Live  Buffaloes  into  Camp — A  Scared  Irishman — A  Lively  Shaking 
Up— In  Search  of  Indians— A  Crack  Shot— On  the  Trail— Out  in  a  Dry  Country 
— Surprised  by  Indians 534-545 

CHAPTER  XII. 

A  Hard  Winter's  Campaign— A  Rough  March — Making  a  Break  Down  a 
Canyon — A  Turkey  Hunt  with  Clubs — Rescue  of  a  Starving  Command — Inter- 
cepting a  Beer  Train — A  Free  Fight  among  the  Scouts 546-553 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Accused  of  Selling  Government  Horses— Arrested  and  Thrown  into  the  Guard 
House — Captured  by  the  Colored  Troops — Dispute  over  a  Telegram — In  Pur- 


CONTENTS  Xlll 

*twt  o*?  Horse  Thieves — The  Thieves  Run  Down— Escape  and  Wonderful  Flight 
ot  A  jt'hief—  An  Extraordinary  Run  for  Liberty — A  Successful  Break  in  the 
Dat'k  ^-Breaking  up  the  Gang 554~566 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  Military  Expedition — Mixed  on  the  Expenditures — A  Big  Indian  Trail — 
Attack  on  the  Courier — A  Lieutenant  in  Sharp  Quarters — Driving  the  Enemy 
before  Us — Re-enforced  by  Pawnee  Scouts — A  Comical  Sight — Battle  between 
Sioux  and  Pawnees — Buckskin  Joe — The  Indians  Think  Better  of  Me  .  567-580 

CHAPTER  XV. 

A  Desperate  Fight — A  Charge  through  the  Indian  Village — Cpralled  by 
Indians — Killing  of  the  Chief  Tall  Bull — Meeting  with  Ned  Buntline — Horse 
Racing  in  the  Hostile  Country — The  Trick  of  Powder-Face — An  Interesting 
Indian  Tradition. 581-593 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Some  Pleasing  Novelties — In  Pursuit  of  Indian  Horse  Thieves — Two  Indians 
Bagged  at  &  Single  Shot — A  Tough  Officer — Pawnee  Indians  on  Guard  Duty — 
A.  Red  Hot  Situation — Appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace — A  Peculiar  Writ  of 
Replevin — Performing  a  Marriage  Ceremony — A  Run  for  Our  Lives.  .  .  594-607 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Entertaining  a  Distinguished  Party — Putting  on  a  Little  Style  for  the  Occa- 
sion— An  Attack  on  the  Buffaloes — An  Accident  to  Leonard  Jerome — Charged 
with  a  Heinous  Offense — Still  Pursuing  the  Enemy — Camp-fire  Chats — A  Lit- 
tle Joke  on  McCarthy — Remains  of  the  Murdered  Buck  Party — Hunting  with 
Grand  Duke  Alexis— A  Visit  to  Spotted  Tail— They  Wanted  to  Lift  My  Hair- 
Giving  Duke  Alexis  the  Cue — Killing  his  First  Buffalo — Giving  the  Duke  a 
Shaking  Up — Some  Presents  from  the  Duke 608-628 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Scouting  in  a  Swallow-tail  Outfit — A  Great  Trip  East — Banqueted  at 
Chicago — A  Gnest  of  the  Union  Club,  New  York — A  Masquerade  Ball — A 
Fellow  that  Looked  Like  Me — My  Embarrassment  at  the  Theatre — My  First 
Appearance  011  the  Stage — Return  to  the  West 629-635 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Again  on  the  Indian  Trail— A  Charge  on  the  Indians— A  Sharp  Fight- 
Wounded — Hunting  with  an  Earl — A  Party  that  Milligan  Refused  to  Attend — 
Roping  a  Buffalo— Elected  to  the  Legislature - 636-643 

CHAPTER  XX. 

An  Actor — Studying  the  Parts — Now,  Here's  a  How  D'do — Buntline's  Versa- 
tility— The  Tide  Taken  at  the  Flood — A  Little  Funny  Business — Criticisms  of 
the  Press — Lively  Experience  of  Wild  Bill — A  Hunt  with  Mr.  Medley — Guide 
to  the  Third  Cavalry— On  the  Road  Again— Death  of  My  Little  Boy.  .  644-657 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Scouting  with  the  Fifth  Calvary— Indian  Depredations— Report  of  the  Custer 
Massacre — Causes  Leading  Thereto — Custer's  Reports — Miners  in  the  Black 
Hills — Indians  Supplied  with  Ammunition  by  the  Government — War  Declared 


Xiv  CONTENTS, 

against  the  Sioux  —  Movement  of  Troops — Crook  Attacked  by  Sitting  Bull— 
Custer  Selected  to  Strike  the  Blow— Custer  Strikes  the  Indians— Hoping  Against 
Hope — The  Massacre — After  the  Murderers  of  Custer— A  Challenge — My 
Duel  with  Yellow  Hand— A  Moment  of  Great  Danger— The  First  Scalp  for 
Custer — Again  in  Pursuit  of  the  Sioux— A  Little  Dust  Causes  an  Excitement — 
Again  on  the  Trail 658-681 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Dangerous  Work— Scouting  on  a  Steamboat— A  Ride  through  the  Bad 
Lands — A  Terrible  Journey — Lying  Low — Return  to  the  Mimic  Stage — On  a 
Round-up — Putting  Real  Indians  on  the  Stage 682-692 

THE  WILD  WEST  IN  ENGLAND. 

An  Ambitious  Enterprise — Opening  of  the  Wild  West  Show— Nate  Sals- 
bury  Joins  Me  as  a  Partner — A.  Sketch  of  Salsbury's  Active  Life — A  Bigger 
Show  Put  on  the  Road — The  Show  Dumped  into  the  Mississippi — Our  Losses  in 
New  Orleans — A  Season  in  New  York — A  Hazardous  Undertaking — Seeking  New- 
Worlds  to  Conquer — We  Sail  for  England — The  Indians'  Fears  Are  Excited  -A 
Sea-sick  Troupe — Off  Gravesend — An  Enthusiastic  Welcome  to  England- 
Some  Anxious  Rejections — First  Impressions  of  London — Preparing  the  Exhi- 
bition Grounds — Scenes  on  the  Strand— Steaming  up  the  Thames  -  Establishing 
our  Camp — Queer  Scenes— The  Starry  Flag  Raised  in  England — American 
Methods  Excite  Surprise — ^Henry  Irving's  Generous  Praise — A  Wild  West  Per- 
formance Described — Helpful  Influence  from  Distinguished  Persons — Enthusi- 
astic and  Numerous  Social  Courtesies— Entertained  by  the  Greatest  of  London 
—How  the  Press  Treated  Me— The  Poetic  Muse  Honors  Me— The  Coming  Cen- 
taur— Visit  of  Mr.  Gladstone — A  Private  Performance  in  His  Honor — His 
Complimentary  Speech — A  Hard  Worked  Lion  of  the  Season — The  Grand  Din- 
ner Given  Me — Visit  of  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales — A  Private  Entertain- 
ment for  His  Royal  Highness — The  Many  Royal  Persons  Present — Their  Un- 
qualified Praise  Bestowed — Immense  Excitement  Created  in  London — Our  First 
Public  Performance— The  Wild  West  Show— Interest  Without  Bloody  Accessories 
— Visit  of  Her  Majesty,  Queen  Victoria — Etiquette  of  Invitation — Her  Ma- 
jesty Salutes  the  American  Flag— Presented  to  the  Queen — Expressions  of  Her 

Queenly  Favor — Statesmen  at  the  Wild  West A  Ribroast  Breakfast  to  Gen. 

Simon  Cameron — The  Prince  of  Wales  and  His  Royal  Flush — A  Wondrous 
Scene  and  Kingly  Event — Royalty  Taking  a  Ride  on  the  Deadwood  Coach — 
Kings,  Queens,  Princes,  Dukes,  Lords  and  Ladies  take  in  the  Show — Presented 
•with  a  Diamond  Pin  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  —The  Princess  of  Wales  Rides  in 
the  Deadwood  Coach — Her  Visit  to  the  Show  in  cogmto — A  Word  of  Praise 
from  the  London  Times— Kind  Words,  Kind  Feelings  and  Kind  Friends  on 
Every  Side — Departure  for  the  Provinces — A  Visit  to  Italy — Re-opening  in 
Manchester— The  Mammoth  Building  Erected  for  our  Exhibition— A  Grand 
Description  of  our  Show  in  Manchester — The  Crowd  at  our  Opening  Perform- 
ance—Social Honors  Heaped  Upon  Me — Presented  with  a  Rifle — A  Jolly  Occa- 
sion— The  Ribroast  of  Pa  He-Haska — English  Love  of  Sport  Illustrated — Pre- 
sented with  a  Gold  Watch  by  Citizens— Streets  in  Salford  Named  in  My  Honor— 
A  Magnificent  Ovation — A  Benefit  Given  Me  by  the  Race-course  People — 50,000 
People  Present— A  Race  for  #2500— An  Enthusiastic  Farewell— Sailing  for 
New  York — A  Pathetic  Incident  at  Sea — Reception  upon  Our  Arrival  at  New 
York — The  Joy  of  Stepping  upon  the  Soil  of  Dear  America  Again — Happy- 
Meeting  with  Friends 693-766 


LIST  OF"  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACK. 

COLORED  FRONTISPIECE. 
Daniel    Boone     (From    the    Harding 
Painting) 19 

Boone's  First  Dangerous  Adventure  .  21 
Westward,  the  March  of  Civilization  .  24 
Perils  of  Early  Settlement  in  the  West  28 

Finley  in  the  Far  West 29 

Capture  of  Boone  and  Stuart  .  .  .  .31 
Escape  of  Boone  and  Death  of  Stuart  .  35 
Glad  Meeting  of  Boone  and  His 

Brother 37 

The  Attack  at  Cumberland  Gap  ...  40 

Battle  at  Point  Pleasant 42 

Perils  Encountered  By  Settlers  of  Ken- 
tucky      .     , 43 

First  Hou.-e  in  Lexington 47 

Capture  of  Miss  Booiie  and  the  Misses 

Callaway 49 

Rescue  of  the  Captive  Girls  .  .  .  .51 
Harassment  of  Early  Settlers  ....  54 

Battle  of  Boonesborough 56 

Boone's  Adoption  by  the  Shawanese     .  59 

Advance  of  the  Indians 63 

Investment  of  Boonesborough     ...  65 
Attack  on  the  Emigrants    .  .    .  68 

Killing  of   Boone's  Brother    .     .    .     .70 

Rendezvous  of  the  Kentucky  Militia    .  71 
Simon  Kenton     .......  73 

Kenton's  Heroic  Rescue  of  Boone  .     .75 
Present  Site  of  Bryan's  Station     ...  76 
Defense  of  Bryan's  Station     ....  78 

Arrival  of  Re-enforcements     ....  80 

The  Battle  on  Licking  River  „  .  .  .83 
The  Fight  at  Blue  Licks  Crossing  .  .  85 
Boone  Fighting  over  the  Body  of  His 

Son 87 

Scene  of  the  Massacre 89 

Bloody  Work  of  Squaws 92 

Invasion  of  the  Peaceful  Home  ...  93 
Heroic  Deatn  of  Mr.  Ballard  ....  95 
A  Brave  Woman's  Defense  of  Her 

Home 98 

Flat  Boat  Emigration 99 

An  Incident  of  the  Bloody  "V  ear,  1782  102 
The  Savage  Captors  in  Council  .  104 
Crawford's  Fight  with  the  Wyandottes  1 06 
Horrible  Punishment  of  Col.  Crawford  108 
Burning  of  Col.  Crawford  .  no 

-oold  Stratagem  of  Boone  . 
Indians  Running  off  Stock 
Death  of  Col.  Christian  , 


114 
116 
117 
119 
Attack  on  the  Cabin 121 


Attack  on  the  Emigrants 


PAO*. 

Capture  of  the  Rankin  Girl    .    .  122 

Murder  of  the  Young  Girl    .    .  125 

Kenton  Passing  the  Gauntlet .    ,  127 

Girty,  the  Renegade     ....  129 

Sample  of  Shawanese  Atrocity    .  131 

On  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds  134 

Boone's  Autograph  Letter  ...  137 

Attack  on  the  Post  of  St.  Louis  .  141 

Boone  Beating  off  the  Indians     .  147 

House  in  which  Boone  Died      .  151 

Boone's  Monument  at  Frankfort  154 

Davy  Crockett 156 

Davy  as  a  Drover  Boy 160 

The  Wolf  Hunters 164 

Old  Fort  Mimms 167 

Spreading  News  of  the  Massacre    .  170 

The  Scalp  Dance 175 

Battle  of  Talladega 179 

A  Creek  Feast 183 

A  Ground-hog  Case 185 

Enforcing  Orders  of  the  Court  191 

Breaking  a  Way  through  Ice  201 

"  I  Got  Back  in  a  Hurry "     .  203 

An  Exciting  Battle    ....  209 

Too  Much  for  the  Crowd  .     .  213 

A  Fight  at  Close  Quarters  .     .  216 

Escape  by  Hide  and  Hair    .  222 

Crockett  on  the  Stump 224 

Calling  for  His  Goose 227 

Hell  in  Harness 233 

Here  is  the  Family 239 

Crockett's  Reception  at  Louisville  .  241 

A  Characteristic  Canvass    ....  245 

The  Embarrassed  Philanthropist     .  253 

The  Fiddling  Parson 256 

Crockett  Discomfits  the  Gambler    .  259 

Cooling  off  a  Boaster 265 

A  Hurricane  of  Buffaloes  ....  273 

Lost  on  the  Prairie 275 

Fight  with  a  Mexican  Lion     ...  278 

The  Buffalo  Chase    .     .     .     .     „     .  281 

Battle  with  Mexican  Bandits  .     .    .  284 

Assault  on  the  Alamo 293 

Heroic  Death  of  Crockett  ....  298 

Monument  to  the  Heroes  ....  305 

Kit  Carson 308 

Reconnoitering  the  Indians'  Position  315 

Storming  the  Camp 316 

Killing  an  Indian  Thief    ....  320 

Adventure  with  a  Grizzly    ....  322 

Wounded  while  Saving  a  Friend      .  32^ 

Carson's  Duel  with  a  Frenchman     .  3*1 

Carson's  Wondrous  Bravery    .     .     .  330 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS, 


Battle  with  a  Mountain  Lion  .    .    .  332 
Fremont  Planting  Our  Flag  on  the 

Mountain •    •  33$ 

Capture  of  Mexican  Women  .    .    .  341 

Surprising  the  Apache  Camp  .    .     •  346 

Carrying  away  the  Dead  Chief    .    .  34$ 

Attacked  by  Apaches 357 

Digger  Indians  Racing.     .    •    •    •  364 

Digger  Indian  Women 3°8 

Relics  of  the  Massacre 37 2 

Carson  Rescuing  the  Lieutenant  374 

Murder  of  the  White  Family  379 

A  Hair-Breadth  Escape    .  38° 

The  Trapper's  Camp    .    .  3^3 

In  the  Canyon  De  Chelly  .  389 

A  Fight  with  the  Navajoes  395 

Indian  Medicine  Dance     .  397 

Hon.  W.  F.  Cody  (Buffalo  Bill)  400 

Staking  Out  Claims 406 

Stabbing  ol  My  Father 4°9 

Escape  from  a  Mob 41* 

To  Save  My  Father's  Life    •    .    .  4X3 

The  Bull  Whacker 4*7 

Two  to  One 422 

Killing  My  First  Indian    ....  428 

On  the  Overland  Trail 43 l 

The  Buffalo  Stampede 435 

Holding  the  Fort 44* 

A  Horrifying  Discovery     .     .     .     .  446 

Saved  by  Chief  Rain-in-the-Face     .  451 

A  Race  for  Life 460 

An  Heroic  Remedy 4°8 

Wild  Bill's  Duel  with  Dave  Tutt  473 

Wild  Bill    .........  476 

Overland  Stage  Coach 482 

Gen.  Geo.  A.  Custer 486 

Dashing  Charge  of  Indians     .    .    .  489 

A  Howl  from  Rome 492 

Tongues  and  Tenderloins  ....  497 

Checking  a  Hot  Pursuit     ....  5°2 

A  Signal  of  Distress 5°° 

The  Great  Buffalo  Killing  Match     .  509 

Death  of  Billy  Comstock   ....  512 

Captured  By  Indians 5*7 

A  Surprise  for  My  Pursuers     ...  52° 

An  Accident  in  the  Dark   ....  524 

An  Early  Call  on  Sheridan     .     .     .  527 

Ready  for  Business 529 

Plagued  by  a  Mule 532 

Government  Mule  Team    ....  535 

Bringing  Live  Meat  into  Camp    .     .  537 

"  Indians,  Upon  Me  Sowl "...  538 

A  Crack  Shot 541 

Flight  of  the  Indians 545 

Discovery  of  a  Starving  Command  .  55 l 

A  Horse  Thief  that  was  Game    .     .  563 

Robbing  a  Stage  Coach     ....  5^5 

Attack  on  a  Courier.     .     -.     • '  .     •  571 


Charging  Back  to  the  Rescue  . 
"  The  Men  Returned  the  Fire  "  . 
Pawnee  Buffalo  Hunters  .  .  . 

Gen.  E.  A.  Carr 

A  Magnificent  Charge  .  .  ,  „ 
Killing  of  Chief  Tall  Bull .  .  , 
Indians  Rioting  with  their  Spoils 
Last  of  the  Buffaloes  .  .  .  . 

Antelope  Chasing 

A  Gory  Trophy 

A  Red  Hot  Situation  .  ,  .  . 
Remains  of  the  Buck  Party  .  . 
Performing  a  Marriage  Ceremony 

Prairie  Dog  Village 

Around  the  Camp-fire  .... 
No  Time  for  Looking  Back  .  • 

Chief  Spotted-Tail 

Grand  Duke  Alexis  .  .  »  . 
The  Duke  Killing  a  Buffalo  , 
A  Wonderful  Bow-shot  .  . 
Shaking  up  the  Duke  .  .  , 
Scouting  Among  the  Civilians 
Indian  Hiding  his  Trail  .  , 
A  Fight  at  Close  Quarters  , 

Roping   a  Buffalo 

Studying  the  Parts 

Behind  the  Foot  lights  .  .  .  . 
.An  Impromptu  Performance  .  . 
Slaughter  of  Buffaloes  .  .  .  . 
Destroying  the  Telegraph  ,  ,  . 

The  Torture  Dance 

Last  of  Custer's  Band   .... 

Custer's  Last  Shot 

Indians  Running  off  Stock  .  . 
Duel  with  Yellow  Hand  .  .  . 
The  First  Scalp  for  Custer  .  . 
Scouting  on  a  Steamboat  .  .  . 

Indian  Raiders 

Watching  the  Hostiles       .    .     . 

On  the  Round-up 

Nate  Salsbury 

Sitting  Bull 

Capturing  Bears  .  .  .  .  •  . 
Red  Shirt  Killing  a  Rival  .  . 
Our  Departure  for  England  .  . 
Our  First  Performanc'e  .  .  . 

War  Dances 

Scenes  in  the  Show  .  . N  .  . 
The  Amphitheatre  ..... 
Attack  on  the  Stage  Coach  .  . 
An  Introduction  to  the  Prince 

Buck  Taylor 

Courtesying  to  Her  Majesty    .     . 

The  Indian  Dance 

Giving  Royalty  a  Spin  .... 
Pin  Presented  by  Prince  of  Wales 

Lassoing  an  Indian 

Lassoing  Horses  .«..*. 


FAG*. 

573 
57S 
579 
582 
584 
587 
589 

59S 
597 
601 

602T 

606 

611 
616- 

621 
623 
625 
626> 
628 
630 
637 
639 
642 
648 
650 
653 
655 
659 
663 
666 
669 
674 
676 
678 
685 
685 
688 
691 

695 
698 
701 
703 
70S 
715 
717 

720' 

723 
725 

729 

732 
736 

741 
743 
745 
752 
754 


STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  BOONE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

ESS  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
and  within  the  age  of  four  generations, 
America  was  distinctively  the  home  of  the 
Indian;  only  a  narrow  strip  of  land  bor- 
dering the  Atlantic  had  been  reclaimed  to 
civilization,  and  even  this  small  section 
possessed  very  few  of  the  comforts  of  the 
period,  as  compared  with  the  mother 
country  and  nations  of  Earope.  Agriculture  was  little  thought 
of,  beyond  the  compass  of  a  garden-patch ;  the  trades  were  few, 
and  carried  on  chiefly  by  itinerant  jobbers,  who  went  from  house 
to  house,  carrying  their  kits  of  tools,  to  perform  such  work  as 
might  be  offered.  There  was  Kttle  incentive  to  the  artisan,  but 
less  to  the  agriculturist.  Prowling  bands  of  hostile  Indians  were 
a  constant  menace  to  material  accumulations,  so  that  settlers  were 
compelled,  for  mutual  protection,  to  oonduct  their  several  enter- 
prises conjointly  and  thus  live  in  a  condition  of  semi-communism, 
which  prevented,  in  large  measure,  the  extension  of  settlements 
and  the  redemption  of  territory  from  the  savages.  But  this  ad- 
verse influence  was  largely  compensated  for  by  the  fact  that  while 
money  was  scarce,  fur-bearing  animals  were  plentiful,  and  while 
dangers  and  difficulties  were  very  great,  these  very  conditions 

a  (17) 


18  STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

excited  that  innate  rugged  nature  which  slumbers  in  the  breasts 
of  those  peacefully  situated,  and  made  heroes  out  of  what  would 
have  been  otherwise  an  effeminate  people.  The  common  currency 
of  the  times  was  peltries  and  the  almost  invariable  food  of  the 
early  settlers  was  meat  of  wild  animals,  victims  of  the  chase,  rifle 
or  trap.  Association  with  dangerous  surrounding  soon  destroyed 
all  feelings  of  fear,  as  it  invariably  does.  A  soldier  trembles 
more  before  the  battle  than  when  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight ;  so 
is  it  only  upon  occasions  of  greatest  peril  that  heroes  have  their 
birth.  Necessity  made  these  pioneers  familiar  with  the  rifle  and 
familiarity  with  this  best  friend  to  the  settler  in  a  primeval  wilder- 
ness made  them  reckless  of  whatever  adventure  might  occur. 
The  evolution,  so  to  speak,  of  brave  men  in  the  wilds  of  the  Atlan- 
tic slope  was  as  natural  as  a  metamorphosis  in  the  insect  world, 
but  their  valorous  deeds  excite  our  admiration  none  the  less,  and 
no  patriot  will  ever  tire  of  reading  the  wonderful  stories  and  mar- 
velous adventures  of  those  strong-hearted  men  who  blazed  out  the 
first  highways  in  the  reclamation  and  settlement  of  our  own  God 
blessed  country ;  and  in  rehearsing  the  sacrifices  which  they  made, 
every  true  American  will  feel  for  them  the  same  pride  as  for  the 
great  soldiers  whose  victories  have  made  our  institutions  imper- 
ishable. 

BIRTH    OF   DANIEL    BOONE. 

Of  the  many  heroes  produced  under  the  influences  described, 
none  are  more  deservedly  popular  than  Daniel  Boone.  This 
really  great  man  was  a  hero  not  only  because  of  a  reckless  spirit 
cast  upon  the  flood-tide  of  fortuitous  circumstances,  and  borne 
to  the  goal  of  lucky  results.  Boone  was  not  so  reckless  as  many 
even  well-read  persons  suppose;  indeed,  so  far  from  being  a 
Hotspur,  he  was  brave  only  with  calculating  cautiousness,  and 
this  trait  of  his  character  is  most  praiseworthy,  because  it  was  by 
an  exercise  of  this  rare  combination  that  he  was  able  to  accom- 
plish so  much  for  the  good  of  his  country,  as  we  shall  hereafter 
see. 

The  immediate  ancestors  of  Daniel  Boone  formed  a  small  set- 
tlement in  England  near  Exeter,  where  they  nearly  all  followed 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE. 


19 


a  pastoral  life.     George  Boone  emigrated  to  America  with  his 
wife,  Mary,  in  1717,  bringing  with  them  eleven  children,  but 
very  few  other  goods,  for  the  family  was  extremely  poor.     Of 
the  nine  sons  of  George  Boone  the  names  of  only  three  are  pre 
served   in  his- 
tory,   viz  .  : 
James,  John 
and  Squire,  the 
latter  of  whom 
became    the 
father  of  Dan- 
iel, our  hero. 

George  Boone 
settled  in  what 
is  now  Berk's 
county,  Penn- 
sylvania, where 
he  bartered  for 
a  tract  of  land 
and  founded  a 
small  settle- 
ment  which,  in 
honor  of  his 
birthplace,  h  e 
called  Exeter. 
It  is  also  re- 
lated, though 
with  no  better 


authority  than 
a  hazy  tradi- 
tion, that  he 
also  pre-empted 
the  ground  on 

which  Georgetown,  in  the  District  of  Columbia*,  is  situated,  and 
that  he  located  the  town  and  gave  tu  it  his  own  name,  all  of  which 
is  extremely  doubtful. 


DANIEL    BOONE. 
(From  the  Harding  Painting.) 


20  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Squire  Boone  married,  in  Pennsylvania,  though  in  what  year 
no  record  has  been  found  to  show,  Mary  Morgan.  It  is 
known,  however,  that  he  had  seven  sons  and  four  daughters, 
as  follows:  Daniel,  James,  Squire,  Edward,  Jonathan,  George 
and  Samuel,  and  Mary,  Sarah,  Hannah  and  Elizabeth.  Squire 
Boone  seems  to  have  remained  on  the  original  estate  at  Exeter, 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  it  was  here  that  Daniel  was  born,  though 
the  exact  date  is  not  definitely  known.  Daniel's  uncle,  James, 
who  was  a  school-master,  left  a  memorandum  in  a  book  to  the 
effect  that  Daniel  was  born  July  14th,  1732.  There  are  three 
other  authorities,  however,  that  fix  upon  as  many  different  dates, 
two  claiming  that  his  birth  occurred  in  February,  1735,  and  an- 
other fixing  the  event  some  time  in  1746.  Considering  the  little 
learning,  and  especially  the  negligence  in  keeping  family  records 
in  those  early  days,  it  ?.s  not  surprising  that  the  date  of  Daniel's 
birth  is  uncertain ;  besides,  an  approximate  date  is  all  that  was 
expected  to  be  known  of  a  pioneer. 

DANIEL'S  FIRST  ADVENTURE. 

Daniel  grew  to  manhood's  estate  on  the  farm  where  he  was 
born  and  received  no  more  advantages  than  were  accorded  to 
other  poor  boys  of  his  neighborhood.  Exeter  was  a  very  small 
settlement  at  the  time,  on  what  was  then  the  frontier.  Phila- 
delphia had  been  founded  by  William  Penn  in  1682,  and  at  the 
time  of  Boone' s  birth  was  a  city  of  nearly  10,000  souls,  but  it 
had  no  trade  with  the  interior,  and  was  sustained  solely  by  its 
shipping  interest,  which  was  considerable.  Exeter  was  about 
sixty  miles  from  Philadelphia,  in  what  is  now  Buck's  county, 
but  of  so  unimportant  a  character  that  the  settlement  had  hardly 
been  heard  of  by  the  people  of  Philadelphia,  nor  were  the  settlers 
of  the  Boone  district  wiser  concerning  the  first  city  of  their  State, 
each  remaining  in  comparatively  blissful  ignorance  of  the  other, 
their  interests  being  so  distinct. 

Of  his  youth  we  know  very  little,  chiefly  from  the  fact  that 
his  early  life  was  punctuated  with  few  startling  periods  that  were 
worth  preserving  in  local  history  or  tradition.  It  is  related  of 
him,  however,  that  on  one  occasion,  during  his  boyhood,  while 


LIFE    OF    DANIEL    BOONE, 


21 


out  hunting  with  some  of  his  youthful  companions,  he  and  his 
party  came  suddenly  upon  a  panther  that  viciously  disputed  their 
way.  Its  growls  and  fierce  demonstrations  put  the  other  boys  to 


a  quick  retreat,  but  Daniel,  with  rare  courage,  boldly  stood  his 
ground,  and  with  that  calm  self-possession  which  ever  after  char- 
acterized him,  he  brought  his  small  Hint-lock  squirrel  rifle  to  his 


22  STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

shoulder  and  sent  a  bullet  through  the  heart  of  the  animal.  This 
adventure  must  have  occurred  at  a  time  before  he  had  reached 
his  teens,  because  the  fact  of  killing  a  panther  in  those  days  was 
an  incident  so  commonplace  that  it  would  hardly  have  been  pre- 
served in  tradition  as  a  evidence  of  Boone's  valor  had  he  been 
more  than  a  youth. 

The  praise  which  he  received  for  having  slain  a  panther  in- 
spired Booneto  loftier  deeds.  Henceforth  we  find  him,  youth  as 
he  was,  pursuing  the  life  of  a  hunter.  His  rifle  becomes  his  con- 
stant companion,  and  generally  his  only  one.  He  followed  up 
the  Schuylkill  where  ducks  and  better  game  were  to  be  found  in 
abundance.  Along  its  course  he  soon  began  trapping  with  con- 
siderable success,  and  so  fond  of  the  sport  was  he  that  before  he 
was  fifteen  years  of  age  he  abandoned  his  home  entirely  and 
made  a  permanent  camp  in  the  wilderness. 

The  same  adventurous  spirit  has  moved  thousands  of  other 
boys,  but  to  this  love  for  wild  life  and  sports  young  Boone  added 
that  extremely  rare  trait  which  may  be  denominated  persistency 
of  purpose,  fortified  with  a  willingness  to  suffer  discomforts  of 
body  when  it  brought  satisfaction  of  mind. 

In  a  rugged  fastness,  remote  from  any  house,  Daniel  chose 
to  make  his  home,  where  the  inclination  of  his  fancy  might  revel 
undisturbed  by  association  with  any  of  his  race.  Accordingly, 
without  revealing  even  to  his  mother  or  father  his  intention,  he 
left  home  as  if  upon  his  regular  daily  hunt,  and  after  a  journey 
of  three  days  along  the  Schuylkill  he  found  a  dense  copse,  where 
the  surroundings  were  so  wild  that  he  reckoned  the  retreat  secure 
from  discovery,  and  here  he  set  to  work  to  prepare  a  shelter. 
With  great  diligence  he  gathered  brush  and  piled  it  about  a  space 
between  two  large  stones,  and  made  a  covering  of  turf  and  leaves, 
leaving  a  hole  at  the  top  for  smoke  to  escape.  In  this  rude  place 
he  lived  for  many  days,  subsisting  off  the  game  that  he  killed 
and,  though  isolated  from  companionship  save  of  rifle  and  dog, 
was  happier  than  a  lord  in  his  buttressed  and  well  lardered  cas- 
tle. His  absence  from  home  for  so  long  a  time  excited  the  fears 
of  his  father  and  neighbors,  who  set  out  in  quest  of  him  with 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  23 

many  misgivings.  It  was  a  week  before  they  happened  upon  the 
well  covered  retreat  of  the  youthful  hermit,  nor  would  they  have 
found  it,  perhaps,  at  all,  had  not  the  smoke  from  his  rude  hovel 
directed  them  in  the  search. 

Daniel  was  forced,  very  much  against  his  will,  to  return  home 
with  his  father,  and  was  soon  afterwards  placed  under  the  tuition 
of 'an  elderly  Irish  school-master.  Peck,  and  other  of  Boone's 
biographers  relate  that  Daniel  had  not  attended  school  many  days 
before  an  incident  occurred  that  resulted  in  his  expulsion.  The 
story,  which  is  no  doubt  apocryphal,  is  to  the  effect  that  the 
teacher  had  a  very  strong  appetite  for  whisky,  which  he  con- 
trived to  clandestinely  gratify  by  keeping  a  bottle  hidden  in  the 
adjoining  woods  and  visiting  it  when  the  scholars  were  at  their 
classes  under  the  rnonitorship  of  an  elder.  By  chance  young 
Boone  found  the  well  filled  bottle,  and,  in  a  spirit  of  mischief- 
ousness,  procured  some  ipecac  with  which  he  seasoned  the  whis- 
ky so  highly  that  the  next  draught  the  teacher  took  from  it 
made  him  violently  ill.  Investigation  followed,  which  led  to 
Daniel's  conviction  and  the  verdict  of  a  sound  thrashing.  When 
the  teacher  undertook  to  apply  the  punishment,  however,  young 
Boone  objected  and  a  fight  was  the  result,  in  which  the  teacher 
received  the  butt  end  of  the  penalty.  This  story,  which  I  prefer 
to  give  thus  briefly,  is  most  probably  a  pure  creation  of  some 
writer  who  had  run  short  of  matter  and  needed  the  sauce  of  a 
joke  to  spice  the  dull  detail  of  history.  The  character  of  Daniel 
Boone,  as  learned  in  the  light  of  later  events,  was  never  that  of 
a  brawler,  but  on  the  other  hand,  in  his  youth  he  was  diffident, 
peaceable  and  obedient,  nor  did  he  change  greatly  in  after  life. 
In  desperate  situations  he  was  wonderfully  courageous,  but  never 
boastful  or  a  bully,  as  a  belief  in  such  a  story  would  influence  us 
to  believe. 

THE  BOONE  FAMILY  REMOVE  TO  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

Before  Daniel  had  reached  his  majority,  and  probably  about 
the  year  1750  or  '51,  Squire  Boone  removed  from  Exeter  to  a 
spot  on  Yadkin  river,  North  Carolina,  about  ten  miles  from  the 
present  town  of  Wilkesborough,  in  what  is  now  Wilkes  county, 


STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


where  he  followed  hunting,  and  farming  on  a  small  scale.  His 
life  in  this  new  location  was  so  uneventful  that  little  is  preserved 
concerning  either  himself  or  his  son  Daniel.  From  the  circum- 
stance of  this  removal,  however,  many  historians  have  been  led 
into  the  error  of  declaring  that  Daniel  was  born  in  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  a  mistake  that  has  even  been 
repeated  by  encyclopedia  writers. 

How  long  Daniel  lived  with  his 
.father  on  the  Yadkin  river  it 
has  not  been  given  later 


WESTWARD,  THE    MARCH    OF    CIVILIZATION. 


generations  t® 
know,  but  history 
records  the  fact  that 
it  was  in  tnis  new 
home  he  first  met 
Rebecca  Bryan, 
possibly  a  neigh- 
bor's daughter,  whom  he  married  and  afterwards  raised  up 
nine  children  by  her,  viz. :  James  (who  it  is  said  was  born 
in  1756),  Israel,  Nathan,  Daniel  and  Jesse;  and  Rebecca, 
Susan,  Larinia  and  Jemima.  Five  years  after  his  marriage 
Daniel  was  still  living  on  the  Yadkin,  following  the  same 
pursuits  as  his  father,  hunting,  trapping  and  cultivating  a  garden- 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  BOONE. 


25 


patch.  How  much  longer  he  remained  in  this  peaceful  home  no 
record  is  left  to  show,  but  it  was  during  the  seven  years  follow- 
ing 1752  that  the  most  stirring  scenes  ever  witnessed  in  Virginia 
occurred,  and  of  which  it  is  hardly  supposed  thai  Daniel  was  an 
uninterested  spectator.  The  strifes  to  which  I  refer  was  the  war 
between  the  English  and  French,  which,  though  ostensibly 
waged  over  the  possession  of  Canada,  seriously  affected  all  the 
English  settlements  along  the  coast,  and  notably  those  in  Virginia. 
But  more  disturbing  than  this  was  what  is  known  in  history  as 
the  Cherokee  War,  which  brought  massacre  and  ruin  into  the 
homes  of  the  Carolinians,  and  no  doubt  developed  in  Boone  the 
energies  and  heroic  qualities  that  had  remained  latent  in  him  un- 
til the  occasion  was  ripe  for  their  manifestation.  Henceforth  we 
will  have  to  deal  with  Boone  as  a  central  figure  in  the  explora- 
tion of  the  great  west,  that  began  to  open  up  to  the  whites  whiJe 
in  pursuit  of  Seeing  savages. 


CHAPTER    H. 

EXPLORATIONS    IN   THE   WEST. 

ISTORY  is  still  very  meager  in  its 
records  of  Boone' s  life  for  ten  years 
after  the  close  of  the  Cherokee 
war  — 1759.  Several  scraps,  recov- 
ered from  books  and  letters,  lead  to 
the  inference  that  he  began  his 

o 

journey  westward  in  1771;  but  Mr. 
Ramsey,  who  is  an  excellent  author- 
ity, in  his  Annals  of  Tennessee  fixes 
the  date  of  Boone' s  first  trip  west  of 
the  Appalachian  range  at  1760, 
which,  for  more  than  one  reason, 
appears  to  be  correct.  The  defeat 
of  the  Cherokees,  and  their  retreat  westward,  would  naturally 


26  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

attract  the  hardy  pioneer  adventurers  in  that  direction,  especially 
as  glowing  accounts  of  the  wonderful  fertility  of  the  soil,  abund- 
ance of  game,  and  vast  mineral  wealth  of  that  district  lying  beyond 
the  mountains  had  been  current  in  the  sparse  settlements  of 
North  Carolina  and  Virginia  even  before  the  uprising  of  the 
Cherokees.  Before  this  time  several  bold  spirits  had  penetrated 
the  western  wilderness  and  brought  back  to  the  east  wonderful 
descriptions  of  the  country  they  had  visited.  A  trader  from 
Virginia,  named  Dougherty,  had  been  among  the  Cherokees  as 
early  as  1690,  and  spent  several  years  trading  with  different 
tribes.  Adair,  of  South  Carolina,  had  made  a  considerable  tour 
of  the  southwest  in  1730,  and  upon  returning  to  his  home  wrote 
a  very  flattering  account  of  the  country,  which  was  afterwards 
published  in  England.  In  1740  several  traders  made  a  journey, 
with  a  Mr.  Vaughan  as  guide,  as  far  west  as  northern  Alabama, 
from  whence  they  returned  to  Charleston  with  a  large  quantity 
of  peltries  which  they  sold  at  an  immense  profit.  In  1748  Dr. 
Thomas  Walker,  of  Virginia,  with  seven  companions  made  a  tour 
of  exploration  to  the  west.  They  passed  through  a  depression  in 
a  range  of  mountains  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Cumber- 
land Gap,  and  soon  afterwards  came  to  a  stream  of  water  which 
they  called  Cumberland  river,  all  in  honor  of  England's  prime 
minister,  then  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  As  early  as  1754  there 
were  six  families  living  on  the  banks  of  the  upper  Ohio  river, 
which  was  then  known  as  the  Wabash,  but  very  soon  after  a  party 
of  Indians  made  a  sortie  on  the  pioneers  and  massacred  seven  of 
the  number  while  tho  remainder  fled  under  cover  of  the  night  to 

o 

the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains  and  afterwards  made  their  way 
back  to  the  interior  of  Virginia. 

In  1760  Dr.  Walker  made  a  second  journey,  at  the  head  of 
a  well  equipped  company  of  men,  and  is  supposed  to  have  pene- 
trated LO  far  west  as  central  Kentucky.  He  was  followed  a  year 
later  by  -\  party  of  nineteen  hunters  and  traders,  under  the  lead- 
ership of  a  man  named  Wallen,  who  conducted  them  to  what  is 
now  known  as  Carter's  valley,  in  Hawkins  county,  Tennessee. 
Says  Mr.  Ramsey:  "  At  the  head  of  one  of  the  companies  that 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  27 

visited  the  west  this  year  (1761),  came  Daniel  Boone,  from  the 
Yadkin,  in  North  Carolina,  and  traded  with  them  as  low  as  the 
place  where  Abingdon  now  stands,  and  there  left  them. 

"  This  is  the  first  time  the  advent  of  Daniel  Boone  to  the 
western  wilds  has  been  mentioned  by  historians,  or  by  the  several 
biographers  of  that  distinguished  pioneer  and  hunter.  There  is 
reason,  however,  to  believe  that  he  had  hunted  upon  Watauga 
earlier." 

Mr.  Ramsey,  in  proof  of  his  assertion  regarding  the  time  when 
Boone  first  visited  Kentucky,  copies  the  following  inscription 
which  a  few  years  ago  was  still  to  be  seen  on  a  large  beech  tree 
that  stood  within  sight  of  the  present  stage  road  between  Jones- 
boro  and  Blountsville,  Tennessee:  — 

D.  Boon 

CillED  A.  BAR  On 

in  ThE  Tree 

yEAR 

1760 

"  Boone  was  eighty-six  years  old  when  he  died,  which  was 
September,  1820.  He  was  thus  twenty-six  years  old  when  the 
inscription  was  made.  When  he  left  the  company  of  hunters  in 
1761,  as  mentioned  above  by  Hay  wood,  it  is  probable  that  he  did 
so  revisit  the  theater  of  a  former  hunt  upon  the  creek  that  still 
bears  his  name,  and  where  his  camp  is  still  pointed  out  near  its 
banks.  It  is  not  improbable,  indeed,  that  he  belonged  to,  or 
accompanied,  the  party  of  Doctor  Walker,  on  his  first,  or  cer- 
tainly on  his  second,  tour  of  exploration  in  1760.  The  inscrip- 
tion is  sufficient  authority,  as  this  writer  conceives,  to  date  the 
arrival  of  Boone  in  Tennessee  as  early  as  its  date,  1760,  thus 
preceding  the  permanent  settlement  of  the  country  nearly  ten 
years." 


28 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


In  the  autobiography  of  Boone,  dictated  to  John  Folsom, 
and  published  in  1784,  occurs  the  following:  "  It  was  on  the  first 
of  May,  in  the  year  1769,  that  I  resigned  my  domestic  happiness 
for  a  time,  and  left  my  peaceable  habitation  on  the  Yadkin  river, 


PERILS   OF   EARLY    SETTLEMENT   IN   THE   WEST. 

in  North  Carolina,  to  wander  through  the  wilderness  of  America, 
in  quest  of  the  country  of  Kentucky,  in  company  with  John  Fin- 
ley,  John  Stuart,  Joseph  Holden,  James  Mo  nay,  and  Williana 
Cool,"  etc. 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE. 


29 


The  date  of  his  first  visit  to  Kentucky,  therefore,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  fix,  but  notwithstanding  this  explicit  declaration  of  the 
time,  apparently  by  Boone  himself,  I  believe  the  preponderance 
of  evidence  is  in  favor  of  the  earlier  date  (1760). 

THE    HAPPY   HUNTING    GROUND    OF    KENTUCKY. 

The  man  Finley,  mentioned  above,  was  an  ardent  sportsman 
and  a  successful  trader.  He  had  made  two  trips  to  the  far  west 
and  came  into  Boone' s  settlement  with  such  thrilling  and  capti- 
vating descriptions  of  the  beautiful  country  and  abounding  game 


^J^^'^'S 


FINLEY    IN    THE    FAR    WEST. 


in  the  far  west  that  he  easily  enlisted  the  interest  of  Boone  and 
four  others  who  accepted  him  as  guide,  and  together  the  six  set 
out  on  their  perilous  journey.  Through  dense  coverts,  where 
night  never  lifted  her  veil,  and  over  giant  hills  where  daylight 
perpetually  lingered,  traveled  the  adventurous  party.  Game  of 
great  variety,  on  wing  and  feet,  flitted  by,  or  paused  at  the  rifle's 
crack,  to  provide  an  ever  bounteous  feast.  Every  tree  might 
shield  an  enemy,  every  pathway  might  lead  to  ambush,  but  with 
strong  hearts  the  six  marched  on,  fording  creeks  and  rafting  over 
larger  streams,  until  at  last,  gaining  a  peak  on  the  Cumberland 


30  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

range,  the  first  view  of  Kentucky  burst  upon  the  enraptured 
vision  of  Boone.  There  at  their  feet  flowed  the  headwaters  of 
the  Kentucky  river,  through  delightful  vales  and  fertile  valleys 
filled  with  grazing  buffalo  and  deer,  that  scarcely  noticed  this  in- 
vasion of  their  domain,  thinking,  perhaps,  of  the  prodigality  of 
nature,  and  of  the  plenty  there  was  to  share  with  any  other  crea- 
ture that  might  choose  to  dwell  in  so  gorgeous  a  clime.  The 
sound  of  a  gun  had  not  echoed  through  this  fair  section,  nor 
had  a  hunter's  knife  drawn  blood  from  the  throat  or  heart  of  any 
animal  upon  this  heaven-blessed  vale.  All  was  innocence,  all 
was  happiness  in  this  realm  of  contentment. 

In  this  beautiful  locality  the  six  hunters  prepared  a  rude  habi- 
tation by  piling  up  logs  to  a  height  of  ten  feet  about  a  space 
some  fifteen  feet  square,  and  then  making  a  roof  of  the  bark 
stripped  from  linden  trees,  which  afforded  partial  protection  from 
rain  and  was  a  complete  shelter  from  the  heavy  dews.  Here 
the  party  lived  and  hunted  until  after  Christmas,  spending  a  most 
enjoyable  time,  since  they  were  adapted  by  nature  to  an  apprecia- 
tion of  this  most  free  and  pleasurable  existence. 

During  the  several  months  of  their  stay  in  this  first  chosen 
locality  they  saw  no  Indians,  though  the  grounds  were  occasion- 
ally hunted  over  by  the  Shawnees,  Chickasaws  and  Cherokees. 
The  land  at  this  time  was  a  portion  of  Virginia,  but  was  soon 
after,  in  1770,  acquired  by  treaty  from  the  Indians.  Two  years 
previously  the  Iroquoi  shad  ceded  to  Great  Britain  all  their  claims 
to  the  land  lying  south  of  the  Ohio,  so  that  the  portion  on  which 
Boone  and  his  companions  were  hunting  was  a  neutral  ground, 
so  to  speak,  since  neither  hut  nor  wigwam  had  been  erected  on  it. 

The  very  fact  of  the  district  being  neutral  led  to  its  designation 
as  the  "  dark  and  bloody  ground,"  for  many  different  tribes  came 
here  to  hunt  and  frequently  fell  into  collisions  of  the  most  desperate 
and  bloody  character.  The  Indians  called  the  country  Kentucky, 
which  means  "at  the  head  of  a  river,"  because  the  greatest 
abundance  of  game  was  then  found  in  the  district  between  what  is 
now  known  as  Big  Sandy  river,  and  the  headwaters  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, which  was  east  of  the  present  eastern  line  of  Kentucky. 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL   BOONE. 


31 


CAPTURE  OF  BOONE    BY    INDIANS. 

Towards  the  early  part  of  1761  Daniel  Boone  and  John  Stuart 
left  the  encampment  for  a  hunt  further  up  the  country  and  with 
the  intention  of  exploring  the  district  towards  the  Ohio.  They 
journeyed  for  several  days  until  they  reached  the  banks  of  the 
Kentucky  river  where  they  were  suddenly  set  upon  by  a  band  of 
savages  and  disarmed  before  being  able  to  raise  a  hand  in  defense. 
The  surprise  was  complete,  because  up  to  this  time  no  Indians 


CAPTURE    OF    BOONE    AND    STUART. 


had  been  seen  nor  had  any  signs  been   met  with  to  excite  suspi- 
cion that  hostiles  were  in  the  neighborhood. 

Though  his  captivity  was  Boone's  first  experience  with  Indians, 
he  had  learned  enough  of  the  character  of  his  captors,  by  hear- 
ing stories  of  their  ferocity  related  about  the  firesides  of  every 
pioneer  family,  to  admonish  him  of  the  perilous  position  he  now 
occupied.  Instead,  therefore,  of  giving  way  to  depression,  or 
of  making  any  open  demonstration  to  arouse  the  special  vigilance 
or  animosity  of  the  Indians,  he  philosophically  adapted  himself 
to  his  new  condition  by  appearing  indifferent  to  the  fate  that 
might  be  meted  out  to  him.  Nothing  so  quickly  or  surely  wins 


32  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

the  good  opinion  of  an  Indian  as  bravery,  just  as  cowardice  will 
certainly  excite  his  hatred,  and  jeopardize  the  life  of  his  cap- 
tive. Boone  was,  therefore,  held  rather  as  a  hostage  than  as  a 
captive,  and  as  he  manifested  a  desire  to  participate  in  the 
sports  and  hunts  of  his  enemies  they  soon  held  him  in  such  re- 
gard that  they  relaxed  much  of  their  former  restraint  and  thus 
prepared  the  way  to  his  liberty. 

Several  days  after  his  captivity  Boone,  with  his  fellow-pris- 
oner, was  taken  to  a  thick  cane  brake  and  made  to  assist  in  pre- 
paring an  encampment,  in  which  work  they  diligently  applied 
themselves.  Toward  the  middle  watch  of  the  night  Boone,  who 

O  ' 

had  scarcely  closed  his  eyes  for  watching  the  first  favorable  means 
for  escape,  perceived  that  all  his  captors  were  soundly  sleeping, 
and  seizing  the  opportunity  quickly  aroused  Stuart  and  bidding 
him  follow  stole  out  into  the  thicket  with  such  silence  that  none 
of  the  Indians  were  awakened.  The  two  traveled  rapidly  during 
the  remainder  of  the  night,  and  also  the  following  day,  retreat- 
ing in  the  direction  of  where  their  camp  lay  until  at  length  they 
reached  the  spot.  But  imagine  their  surprise  when,  instead  of  be- 
ing met  by  their  glad  companions,  they  found  the  camp  deserted 
and  nothing  to  mark  the  place  but  a  few  smouldering  logs.  What 
had  become  of  Findley,  Holden,  Moncay  and  Cool?  There  were 
no  signs  of  a  struggle,  nor  evidence  of  either  massacre  or  retreat, 
and  yet  there  were  burning  logs  which  might  have  been  the 
funeral  pyre  of  the  four  brave  men,  who  had  thus  disappeared. 
Singular  to  relate,  nothing  whatever  was  ever  afterwards  learned 
concerning  the  fate  of  the  four.  Had  they  abandoned  the  camp 
and  returned  to  their  homes  in  North  Carolina  some  record  would 
have  been  left  to  this  effect;  and  had  they  been  massacred 
the  fact  would  doubtless  have  been  circulated  among  the  Indian 
tribes  and  thus  finally  have  reached  the  ears  of  some  white  set- 
tler, as  such  atrocities  almost  invariably  did,  but  true  it  is  that 
the  fate  of  the  four  men  was  never  learned  and  remains  a  pro- 
found mystery  to  this  day. 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE. 


33 


CHAPTER   III. 


ALONE  IN  THE  WILDERNESS, 


GONE  and  Stuart  were  now  alone  in  the  dark 
and  bloody  wilderness,  with  only  a  small 
supply  of  ammunition  and  conscious  of  the 
great  danger  that  beset  them  on  every  side. 
They  built  a  log  house,  such  as  they  could 
erect  by  the  aid  of  two  hatchets  carried  al- 
ways with  them,  and  protected  it  as  best 
they  could  by  packing  the  interstices  be- 
tween the  logs  with  hoop-pole  * '  chinken  ' ' 
plastered  with  mud,  by  which  means  the  hut 
was  fairly  impervious  to  wind,  snow  and 
rain,  while  it  served  as  an  admirable  defense 
in  case  of  attack.  Here  they  lived,  sub- 
sisting on  the  game  they  killed,  until  some 
time  in  February  when  a  delightful  surprise 

was  given  them  in  the  appearance  of  Squire  Boone,  one  of 
Daniel's  brothers,  accompanied  by  another  white  man,  whose 
name  has  not  been  preserved.  The  long  absence,  without  tidings, 
of  Daniel  Boone  had  caused  his  family  such  alarm  that  they  dis- 
patched Squire  in  search  of  him,  who,  guided  by  good  fortune 
came  directly  upon  his  long-lost  brother  after  a  journey  of  nearly 
one  month.  The  meeting  was  a  joyful  one,  as  we  may  well  be- 
lieve, not  only  because  the  lost  was  found,  and  glad  news  from 
hib  family  was  thus  brought  to  the  great  hunter,  but  also  because 
Squiro  brought  with  him  a  goodly  supply  of  ammunition,  the 
value  of  which  to  Boone  was  positively  inestimable.  Thus  en- 
couraged and  provided  the  party  made  some  improvement  to  their 
winter  quarters,  which  greatly  increased  its  comforts,  and  then 
began  hunting  as  a  business,  intending  to  collect  a  large  number 
of  peltries  for  marketing  in  the  following  spring. 


34  STORY   OP   THE   WILD   WEST. 

DEATH   OF   STUART    AT   THE   HANDS    OF   THE    INDIANS. 

Scarcely  a  week  had  passed  after  the  joyful  meeting  described 
when  a  distressing  misfortune  befel  the  party,  which  materially 
altered  its  plans  and  changed  rejoicings  to  deepest  mourning. 
Daniel  Boone  and  Stuart  were  out  on  a  hunt  together    leaving 
Squire  and  his  companion  at  the  camp  dressing  skins,  least  su 
pecting  the  proximity  of  hostile  Indians,  for  no  evidence  of  any 
had  been  seen  for   more    than  a  month,   besides   Boone   knew 
that  it  was  a  very  unusual  thing  for  Indians  to  either  hunt  or 
forage  during  winter  time.     But  his  fancied  security  was  deli 
siverfor,  without  warning,  suddenly  a  volley  of  shots  poured  out 
of  a  thick  copse  of  cane  and  Stuart  fell  mortally  wounded  only 
to  be  scalped  a  moment  afterward.     Boone,  more  fortunate  than 
his  companion,  escaped  the  fire  of  the  Indians,  and  being  favored 
by  a  dense  brake  on  his  right  plunged  into  it  and  contrived  to 
make  good  his  escape  by  fleeing  back  to  the  camp,  where  the 
Indians  were  afraid  to  attack  him.     Three  days  after  this  tragic 
incident,  the  man  who  had  accompanied  Squire  Boone  from  North 
Carolina  went  out  of  camp  early  in  the  morning,  for  what  pur- 
pose is  not  known,  and  was  never  afterwards  seen  again,  though 
a  skeleton  was  found  some  months  afterwards  in  a  swamp  a  few 
miles  from  the  camp  that  was  supposed  to  be  his. 
fellow  had  doubtless  become  deranged  by  the  horrible  death  c 
Stuart,  and  reflecting  on  the  perils  that  surrounded  him,  prol 
ably  wandered  away  only  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  Indians  or  so 
wild  animal. 

BOOXE   LEFT   ALONE    IN   THE   WILDERNESS. 

Two  of  their  number  having  been  rudely  snatched  away  by  a 
cruel  fate,  and  the  party  thus  reduced  to  the  two  brothers,  Daniel 
and  Squire  Boone,  the  plans  which  had  been  adopted  with  so 
much  expectation  were  necessarily  abandoned,  and  the  two  were 
for  a  time  oppressed  with  a  sense  of  their  great  misfortune  and 
utter  loneliness.  The  remainder  of  the  winter  was  spent  without 
further  interruption  from  the  Indians,  but  with  feelings  of  more 
or  less  despondency.  When  spring  arrived  very  few  peltries  had 


36  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

been  collected,  certainly  not  enough  to  justify  a  special  trip  to 
the  nearest  market,  five  hundred  miles  distant,  but  the  store  of 
ammunition  had  again  run  so  low  that  a  new  supply  must  be  ob- 
tained, as  their  very  lives  depended  upon  it.  After  many  sug- 
gestions it  was  at  length  determined  between  the  two  that  Squire 
should  return  to  North  Carolina  for  supplies  while  Daniel  would 
remain  at  the  cabin  to  defend  the  place  during  his  brother's 
absence.  Accordingly,  Squire  bade  Daniel  good-bye  on  the  1st 
day  of  May,  1761,  and  set  out  for  home,  which  he  reached  with- 
out serious  adventure  early  in  June. 

In  this  period  of  utter  isolation  Daniel  endeavored  to  relieve 
the  loneliness  from  which  he  suffered  by  exploring  the  country 
between  the  Kentucky  and  Green  rivers.  He  was  absent  from 
the  camp  more  than  a  month,  and  when  he  at  length  returned  it 
was  to  find  that  the  cabin  and  its  contents  had  been  burned.  It 
would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  desire  which  prompted  him  to 
make  a  journey  to  the  southwest  was  a  providential  incentive 
to  save  his  life,  for  had  he  been  attacked  in  the  cabin  by  a  band 
of  Indians  he  must  certainly  have  perished  at  their  hands. 

Daniel  Boone  remained  in  the  vicinity  of  his  old  camp  until 
the  27th  of  July  when  his  brother  Squire  returned  with  two 
horses  and  a  large  supply  of  ammunition,  cooking  utensils  and 
other  needful  articles,  and  also  with  the  pleasing  news  that 
Daniel's  family  was  in  good  health  and  easy  circumstances.  The 
burned  cabin  and  evidences  of  hostile  Indians  induced  the  brothers 
to  abandon  their  old  camping  ground  and  take  up  new  quarters 
on  the  Kentucky  river,  at  a  spot  Boone  had  selected  some  time 
before  as  an  admirable  place  for  a  settlement.  Here  the  two 
constructed  another  cabin,  and  then  began  hunting  and  collecting 
peltries,  which  they  followed  with  success  until  the  spring  of  the 
following  year,  when  having  all  that  their  two  horses  could  carry 
they  returned  to  their  old  home  on  the  Yadkin  river  and  disposed 
of  their  furs  and  peltries  at  excellent  prices.  Daniel  Boone  had 
been  absent  from  his  family,  in  the  wilderness  of  the  unexplored 
country,  for  a  period  of  two  years,  and  the  joy  of  his  return  may 
be  imagined.  In  all  this  time  he  had  seen  no  other  white  men 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE. 


37 


than  those  who  had  been  his  companions,  five  of  whom  had 
met  their  death  in  a  mysterious  way,  and  another  killed  and 
scalped  by  Indians.  This  awful  experience,  however,  did  not  re- 


GLAD  MEETING  OP  BOONE  AND  HIS  BROTHER. 

press  his  love  for  adventure,  nor  the  ambition,  which  ever  ac- 
tuated him,  to  open  a  pathway  through  the  west  for  settlement 
and  civilization. 


38 


STORY  OF  THE   WILD  WEST. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


BOONE  MOVES  HIS  FAMILY  TO  THE  WILDERNESS. 

OR  some  considerable  length  of  time  Boone 
busied  himself  with  the  affairs  of  his  North 
Carolina  home.  He  had  resolved,  before 
leaving  Kentucky  river,  that  ultimately  he 
would  found  a  settlement  upon  its  banks  and 
remove  his  family  there,  but  this  could  not 
be  done  hurriedly.  He  had  acquired  some 
property  on  the  Yadkin  and  this  had  first  to 
be  disposed  of ;  other  preliminaries  were  also 
necessary,  not  the  least  of  which  was  gaining 
his  wife's  consent  to  the  change,  and  the 
conversion  of  such  effects  as  he  had  no 
special  need  for  into  money.  All  this  re- 
quired much  time,  and  years  had  elapsed  be- 
fore he  was  prepared  to  move.  At  this  point  in  Boone' s  life  the 
dates  are  very  much  confused,  as  indeed  they  are  in  his  entire 
history,  as  already  explained.  Nearly  all  his  biographers  hold  to 
the  dates  as  given  by  Boone' s  autobiography,  as  it  was  dictated 
to  John  Folsom,  in  which  appears  the  statement  that  he  first  left 
North  Carolina  for  the  region  of  Kentucky  May  1st,  1769.  That 
this  is  an  error,  and  also  that  Boone  was  in  Kentucky  nearly  ten 
years  earlier  than  this  is  almost  positively  certain,  as  Mr.  Ram- 
sey and  others  have  conclusively  shown.  But  in  the  confusion 
of  dates,  which  no  future  historian  may  ever  hope  now  to  cor- 
rect, I  am  compelled  to  adopt  even  with  their  manifest  errors 
those  most  generally  given. 

I  may  therefore  say  that  on  September  25th,  1773,  Daniel  and 
Squire  Boone,  accompanied  by  their  families,  set  out  with  six 
pack  horses  and  three  milch  cows  for  the  land  of  their  last  adopt- 
ion. At  Powell's  valley,  nearly  one  hundred  miles  from  the  Yad- 
kin, the  Boones  were  re-enforced  by  five  other  families  and  forty 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE.  39 

men,  the  latter  being  well  armed.  With  this  large  force  the  party 
felt  secure  from  attack,  or,  if  attacked,  they  believed  themselves 
able  to  repel  any  force  of  Indians  that  was  likely  to  be  met  with. 

ATTACK    OF   THE    INDIANS. 

The  cavalcade  of  emigrants  continued  their  journey  without 
molestation  or  incident  until  they  reached  Cumberland  Gap, 
through  which  the  party  was  upon  the  point  of  passing  when 
seven  young  men  who  were  bringing  up  the  rear,  driving  the  cat- 
tle, were  set  upon  by  a  band  of  nearly  one  hundred  Indians.  So 
sudden  was  the  attack  that  six  were  slain  before  the  alarm  could 
be  given.  The  remaining  young  man  escaped  as  by  a  miracle, 
but  was  pursued  to  the  very  front  of  the  armed  men  who  were  in 
the  lead.  A  desperate  battle  now  took  place.  There  was  no 
time  for  corraling  the  wagons,  as  the  enemy  was  upon  them. 
The  women  and  children  began  screaming,  but  their  cries  were 
soon  hushed  in  the  louder  rattle  of  fire-arms.  After  a  few  vol- 
leys the  Indians  were  driven  off.  with  the  loss  of  several  of  their 
number,  but  the  cattle  had  been  stampeded  and  none  of  them 
were  afterwards  recovered.  Among  the  emigrants  that  were 
killed  in  this  battle  was  James,  the  eldest  son  of  Daniel  Boone,  a 
bright  and  fearless  young  man,  whose  love  for  adventure  was 
quite  as  strong  as  that  of  his  father's. 

The  party  was  so  alarmed  and  disheartened  by  the  loss  of  six 
of  their  number  that  they  abandoned  the  effort  to  reach  the  Ken- 
tucky river,  and  changing  their  course  they  went  southward  to  a 
settlement  established  two  years  previously  on  Clinch  river  in 
southwest  Virginia,  forty  miles  from  the  scene  of  their  battle. 
Boone  remained  here  with  his  family  until  the  June  following 
when,  in  response  to  a  request  made  by  Governor  Dunmore,  of 
Virginia,  of  which  State  Kentucky  at  that  time  constituted  a  part, 
he  took  with  him  a  man  named  Michael  Stoner,  and  returned  to 
Kentucky  to  assist  the  escape  of  several  surveyors  who  were  in 
that  region  and  supposed  to  be  besieged  by  Indians.  The  object 
of  this  journey  was  accomplished  without  special  incident,  for 
the  surveyors  were  found  without  difficulty,  peacefully  pursu- 
ing their  duties,  with  no  Indians  near  them,  but  they  were  never- 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE.  41 

theless  glad  to  accept  Boone  as  their  guide  and  to  return  to  the 
settlements  in  Virginia.  This  journey,  which  covered  eight  hun- 
dred miles,  Boone  accomplished  on  foot  in  sixty-two  days. 

EARLIEST  EFFORTS  AT  SETTLEMENT. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  up  to  this  time  no  efforts  had 
been  made  to  settle  the  region  west  of  the  Cumberland  mountains. 
As  early  as  1770  George  Washington  had  himself  penetrated  as 
far  as  the  Kanawha  river  and  surveyed  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  lands  in  that  section,  to  which  he  laid  claim.  In  the  same 
year  a  party  of  forty  men  under  Colonel  James  Knox  had  crossed 
the  Cumberland  range  and  explored  many  miles  of  territory  be- 
tween Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  They  were  absent  from  the 
Clinch  river  country,  from  whence  they  started,  for  such  a  length 
of  time  that  the  party  afterwards  became  known  in  the  traditions 
of  the  west  as  the  "Long  Hunters." 

In  the  summer  of  1773  Thomas  Bullitt  and  ten  men  descended 
the  Ohio  river,  while  another  party  that  had  started  with  him 
followed  up  the  Kentucky  river  as  far  as  the  spot  where  Frank- 
fort now  stands,  and  the  valley  of  which  they  surveyed.  Bullitt 
went  down  the  Ohio  to  the  falls  where,  in  connection  with  John 
Campbell  and  John  Connelly,  he  laid  out  the  town  of  Louisville. 
In  the  same  year  General  Lyman  and  several  other  adventurers 
floated  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  as  far  as  the  place 
where  Natchez  was  afterwards  located,  and  were  followed  shortly 
after  by  no  less  than  four  hundred  families,  who  settled  along 
the  banks  of  the  two  rivers. 

All  these  facts,  which  are  well  attested,  furnish  so  many  proofs 
that  Boone' s  first  visit  to  the  regions  of  Kentucky  was  made  many 
years  before  the  time  stated  in  his  autobiography,  for,  if  it  is  true 
that  he  first  started  west  in  1769,  and  that  no  other  white  man 
had  ever  been  west  of  the  Cumberland  range,  it  is  impossible  to  be- 
lieve that  the  region  was  so  well  known  in  1770,  only  a  year  later. 

THE    WAR   AGAINST    THE    SHAWANESE. 

During  the  absence  of  Boone,  in  search  of  the  surveyors  in 
Kentucky,  the  Shawanese  Indians  in  the  northwest  began  to 


42  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

murder  the  settlers  in  that  region  and  rendered  life  so  insecure 
on  the  border  that  Governor  Dunmore  appealed  to  the  legislature, 
then  in  session,  which  was  responded  to  by  a  call  for  three  thou- 
sand men  to  be  raised  in  Virginia.  Immediately  upon  Boone's 
return  the  governor  appointed  him  to  the  command  of  three  con- 
tiguous garrisons,  but  he  was  not  called  on  to  do  any  fighting. 


THE   BATTLE    AT   POINT   PLEASANT. 


The  Shawanese  were  joined  by  the  Delawares,  Mingos,  Wyandots 
and  Cayugas  under  such  well-known  chiefs  as  Logan,  Cornstalk 
and  Red  Eagle.  The  final  battle  of  this  war  was  fought  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Point  Pleasant,  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and 
Kanawha,  where,  after  one  of  the  bloodiest  contests  ever  waged 
in  any  Indian  war,  the  savages  were  beaten  by  fifteen  hundred 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL   BOONE. 


43 


Virginians  commanded  by  General  Andrew  Lewis.  They  soon 
after  sued  for  peace  and  a  treaty  was  made  by  which  the  Indians 
surrendered  all  claims  to  Kentucky.  The  six  nations  had  already 
resigned  their  claims  to  the  region  by  the  treaty  of  1768,  and  the 
Cherokees  had  sold  their  rights  to  the  territory  to  Colonel  Rich- 
ard Henderson,  who  founded  what  was  known  as  the  Transyl- 
vania company. 

Thus  we  see  that  at  the  time  Daniel  Boone  was  trying  to  settle 
in  Kentucky  with  his  family  the  territory  was  free  of  Indian 
titles,  though  for  many  years  afterwards  several  tribes  continued 
to  use  it  as  a  hunting  ground  and,  as  we  shall  see,  treacherously 
waylaid  and  massacred  the  rettlers  as  if  they  considered  every 
white  person  who  came  within  the  region  an  invader. 

ANOTHER  EXPLORATION  OF  KENTUCKY. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  the 
Shawanese  and  their  allies,  Boone  was  employed  by  the  Transyl- 
vania Company,  organized  for  the  purpose  of  exploring,  survev- 


PERILS    ENCOUNTERED   BY   THE    EARLY   SETTLERS    OF   KENTUCKY. 

ing  and  speculating  in  western  lands,  to  guide  a  party  of  surveyors 
who  were  sent  out  to  open  a  road  from  the  settlements  on  the 
Holsten  to  the  Kentucky  river,  and  to  establish  a  station  at  the 


44  STORY    OF    THE    WILD   WEST. 

mouth  of  Otter  creek,  on  the  latter.  At  the  head  of  a  consider- 
able party  Boone  started  on  a  hazardous  march  to  the  scene  of 
his  future  and  most  important  labors.  Concerning  this  journey 
Boone  himself  has  written :  4 «  We  proceeded  with  all  possible  expe- 
dition until  we  came  within  fifteen  miles  of  where  Boonesborough 
now  stands,  and  where  we  were  fired  upon  by  a  party  of  Indians 
that  killed  two  and  wounded  two  more  of  our  number;  yet,  al- 
though surprised  and  taken  at  a  disadvantage,  we  stood  our 
ground.  This  was  on  the  20th  of  Miych,  1775.  Three  days 
after  we  were  fired  upon  again,  and  had  two  men  killed  and  three 
wounded.  Afterward  we  proceeded  on  to  Kentucky  river  with- 
out opposition,  and  on  the  first  day  of  April  began  to  erect  the 
fort  of  Boonesborough  at  a  salt  lick,  about  sixty  yards  from  the 
river,  on  the  south  side. 

"  On  the  fourth  day,  the  Indians  killed  one  of  our  men.  We 
were  busily  employed  in  building  this  fort  until  the  fourteenth 
clay  of  June  following,  without  any  further  opposition  from  the 
Indians;  and  having  finished  the  works,  I  returned  to  my  family 
on  the  Clinch. 

11  In  a  short  time  I  proceeded  to  move  my  family  from  Clinch 
to  this  garrison,  where  we  arrived  safe,  without  any  other  diffr 
culties  than  such  as  are  common  to  this  passage ;  my  wife  and 
daughter  being  the  first  white  women  that  ever  stood  oa  the 
banks  of  Kentucky  river." 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  45 

CHAPTEE    V. 

THE    FORT   AT    BOONESBOROUGH. 

HE  fort  at  Boonesborough,  by  which  the 
settlement  was  to  be  protected,  wras  com- 
pleted in  June,  1775,  or  within  two  months 
after  it  was  begun.  A  description  of  this 
celebrated  fort  has  been  given  in  Col- 
lins' Historical  Sketches  of  Kentucky, 
and  there  is  also  in  existence  a  print  made 
from  a  drawing  by  Colonel  Henderson  him- 
self. From  the  former  I  extract  the 
following:  —  "It  was  situated  adjacent  to  the  river,  with  one  of 
the  angles  resting  on  its  bank  near  the  water,  and  extending 
from  it  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram.  The  length  of  the  fort, 
allowing  twenty  feet  for  each  cabin  and  opening,  must  have  been 
about  two  hundred  and  sixty,  and  the  breadth  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet.  In  a  few  days  after  the  work  was  commenced,  one  of  the 
men  was  killed  by  the  Indians."  The  houses,  being  built  of 
hewn  logs,  were  bullet  proof.  They  were  of  a  square  form,  and 
one  of  them  projected  from  each  corner,  being  connected  by 
stockades.  The  remaining  space  on  the  four  sides,  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  engraving,  was  filled  up  with  cabins  erected  of  rough 
logs,  placed  close  together.  The  gates  were  on  opposite  sides, 
made  of  thick  slabs  of  timber,  and  hung  on  wooden  hinges- 
This  was  in  accordance  with  the  fashion  of  the  day. 

"A  fort,  in  those  rude  military  times,"  says  Butler,  "  con- 
sisted of  pieces  of  timber  sharpened  at  the  end  and  firmly  lodged 
in  the  ground;  rows  of  these  pickets  enclosed  the  desired  space, 
which  embraced  the  cabins  of  the  inhabitants.  A  block-house  or 
more,  of  superior  care  and  strength,  commanding  the  sides  of  the 
fort,  with  or  without  a  ditch,  completed  the  fortifications  or 
stations,  as  they  were  called.  Generally  the  sides  of  the  interior 
cabins  formed  the  sides  of  the  fort.  Slight  as  this  advance  was 


46  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

in  the  art  of  war,  it  was  more  than  sufficient  against  attacks  of 
small  arms  in  the  hands  of  such  desultory  warriors,  as  their  ir- 
ivirular  supply  of  provisions  necessarily  rendered  the  Indians. 
Such  was  the  nature  of  the  military  structures  of  the  provision 
nirainst  their  enemies.  They  were  ever  more  formidable  in  the 
canebrakes  and  in  the  woods  than  before  even  these  imperfect 
fortifications." 

Upon  completion  of  the  fort  it  was  called  Boonesborough,  in 
honor  of  its  intrepid  founder,  and  very  soon  after  assumed  con- 
siderable importance  as  a  settlement.  Before  fall,  Col.  Hender- 
son, Nathan  Hart  and  John  Luttrell,  who  were  interested  in  the 
Transylvania  Company,  came  out  to  the  fort  with  nearly  forty 
men,  and  pack-horses  loaded  with  necessary  supplies  for  the  new 
colony,  that  had  already  begun  to  grow  rapidly.  Boone  also 
returned  to  Clinch  river  and  brought  out  his  family,  as  previously 
related,  but  he  did  not  come  alone,  for  in -passing  through 
Powell's  valley  he  was  joined  by  Hugh  McGary,  Richard  Ho- 
gan  and  Thomas  Denton  and  their  families,  and  twenty  other  ad- 
venturers, chiefly  young  unmarried  men.  Upon  reaching  the 
confluence  of  the  Monongahela  and  Ohio  however,  McGary,  Ho- 
gan  and  Denton  separated  from  Boone  and  went  on  to  a  settle- 
ment founded  the  year  before  by  Harrod  and  called  in  his  honor 
Harrodsburg.  In  the  same  fall  Logan's  Fort  and  Bryan's  Station 
were  also  established,  the  four  settlements,  however,  being  in 
close  proximity  to  each  other  and  thus  capable  of  affording  a 
measure  of  mutual  protection. 

THE  FOUNDING  OF  LEXINGTON. 

The  year  1775  was  one  of  unusual  activity  as  it  was  crowded 
with  extraordinary  and  momentous  events.  The  founding  of 
Boonesborough  was  the  opening  of  a  gateway  to  the  settlement  of 
all  Kentucky.  Previous  to  this  every  effort  to  open  up  the  coun- 
try and  make  productive  its  almost  incomparably  fertile  soil  had 
been  frustrated  by  the  perils  that  menaced  its  peaceful  invaders. 
It  was  therefore  like  some  marvelously  rich  treasure  guarded  by 
an  invulnerable  or  fright-inspiring  monster  until  Boone,  as  the 
modern  St.  George,  Hercules  or  Perseus  offered  combat  with  the 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL,    BOOSE. 


47 


hard-visaged  creature  of  savagery  and  overcame  it,  and  gave  the 
fruits  of  his  victory  to  those  who  would  enjoy  it. 

While  the  bustle  and  promise  of  Boonesborough  was  attracting 
hardy  adventurers  from  the  east  the  report  came  by  some  of  these 
of  the  first  gun  fired  in  the  battle  for  freedom  on  the  field  of  Lex- 
ington. The  stirring  news  was  first  received  within  the  territory 
of  Kentucky  by  a  party  of  hunters  encamped  at  a  beautiful  spot  in 
the  center  of 
what  is  now 
known  as  Fay-  fj 
e  1 1  e  county,  J 
about  thirty  1 
miles  from  jjl 
Boonesbor-  1 
ough.  Stim-  ^6 
ulated  by  a 
spirit  of  in- 
tense patriot- 
ism the  hun- 
ters, whose  names  have  unfortunately  perished,  resolved  to  dedi- 
cate the  ground  of  their  encampment  by  founding  thereon  a 
settlement  to  be  called  in  honor  cf  the  first  battle-field  for 
American  independence,  Lexington.  The  honor  and  glory  of 
that  sacred  dedication  still  remains  in  the  beautiful  city  that  is 
now  not  only  the  capital  of  Fayette  county,  but  the  metropolis  of 
that  fairest  section  of  all  Kentucky,  the  justly  celebrated  "  Blue 
Glass  Kegion,"  where  grows  the  most  bounteous  crops,  finest 
horses  and  loveliest  women  in  all  the  world. 

CAPTURE  OF  THREE  WHITE  GIRLS    BY  INDIANS. 

Affairs  at  Boonesborough  continued  prosperous  and  the  settle- 
ment increased  so  rapidly  that  towards  the  middle  of  1776  the 
colony  numbered  nearly  three  hundred  souls.  Nothing  specially 
alarming  had  occurred  to  disturb  the  serene  and  prosperous  con- 
dition of  the  settlers,  though  a  vigilant  watch  was  maintained 
against  the  Indians  who  continued  to  hover  about  and  menace  the 


FIRST    HOUSE    IN    LEXINGTON. 


48  STORY    OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

place.  Considerable  progress  had  now  been  made  in  clearing 
away  the  surrounding  forest,  and  in  the  cultivation  of  corn,  wheat 
and  tobacco,  which  promised  a  goodly  yield.  This  quiet  and 
peaceful  condition  of  the  settlement  was,  however,  suddenly  and 
rudely  violated  on  the  fourteenth  of  July,  by  the  capture  of  three 
girls  from  the  fort,  one  of  whom,  Jemima,  was  the  daughter  of 
Daniel  Boone,  and  the  other  two,  Betsy  and  Frances,  were  the 
daughters  of  Richard  Callaway,  who  had  moved  to  Boonesbor- 
ough  from  North  Carolina  the  preceding  spring. 
,  The  girls  were  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  were  devoted 
friends,  and  spent  most  of  their  time  together.  The  friendship 
of  the  three  was  cemented  more  closely  by  the  fact  that  they  each 
had  young  lovers  among  the  settlers,  and  in  their  love-making 
shared  each  other's  confidences.  On  the  evening  of  their  capture 
they  were  amusing  themselves  by  rowing  along  the  river  in  a 
canoe,  which  they  handled  with  great  dexterity.  Anticipating  no 
danger,  and,  being  governed  by  the  desire  that  possesses  all 
human  beings  to  know  what  lies  beyond  them,  they  crossed  over 
to  the  opposite  shore.  Here  the  attention  of  the  girls  was  caught 
by  a  cluster  of  wild  flowers,  and  desiring  to  possess  them,  they 
turned  the  prow  of  the  canoe  toward  the  shore.  The  trees  and 
shrubs  were  thick,  and  extended  down  to  the  water's  edge,  afford- 
ing a  safe  shelter  for  a  band  of  Indians  who  lay  concealed  there. 
Just  as  one  of  the  girls  was  in  the  act  of  grasping  the  flowers  an 
Indian  slid  stealthily  down  the  bank  into  the  water,  and  seizing 
the  rope  that  hung  at  the  bow  of  the  canoe,  turned  its  course  up 
stream,  in  a  direction  to  be  hidden  from  a  view  of  the  fort  by 
a  projecting  point.  At  the  same  time  four  other  Indians  ap- 
peared with  drawn  tomahawks  and  knives,  and  intimated  to  the 
girls  by  signs  and  motions  that  if  they  caused  any  alarm  they 
would  be  killed  on  the  spot.  Yet,  terrified  at  their  sudden  and 
unexpected  capture,  the  girls  shrieked  for  help.  Their  cries  were 
heard  at  the  fort,  but  too  late  for  their  rescue.  The  canoe  was 
the  only  means  the  garrison  had  of  crossing  the  river,  and  that 
was  now  on  the  opposite  side  and  in  possession  of  the  enemy* 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE. 


49 


None  dared  to  swim  the  stream,  fearing  that  a  lar^e  body  cf  In- 
dians were  concealed  in  the  woods  en  the  opposite  bank. 


CAPTURE   OF   MISS   BOONE   AND   THE   MISSES   CALLAWAY. 

Boone  and  Callaway  were  both  absent,  and  night  set  in  before 
tfteir  return  and  arrangements  could  be  made  for  pursuit.     The 


50  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

following  account  of  the  recapture  of  the  girls  is  given  by  Colonel 
Floyd,  who  was  one  of  the  pursuing  party  of  eight,  three  others 
of  whom  were  the  girls'  lovers :  — - 

"  The  affair  happened  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  spoilers 
left  the  canoe  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from  us,  which 
prevented  our  getting  over  for  some  time  to  pursue  them.  Next 
morning  by  daylight  we  were  on  the  track,  but  found  they  had 
totally  prevented  our  following  them  by  walking  some  distance 
apart  through  the  thickest  cane  they  could  find.  We  observed 
their  course,  however,  and  on  which  side  they  had  left  their  sign, 
and  traveled  upward  of  thirty  miles.  We  then  imagined  that 
they  would  be  less  cautious  in  traveling,  and  made  a  turn  in 
order  to  cross  their  trace,  and  had  gone  but  a  few  miles  before 
we  found  their  tracks  in  a  buffalo-path/ 

"  Pursuing  this  for  the  distance  of  about  ten  miles,  we  over- 
took them  just  as  they  were  kindling  a  fire  to  cook.  Our  study 
had  been  more  to  get  the  prisoners  without  giving  their  captors 
time  to  murder  them  after  they  should  discover  us,  than  to  kill 
the  Indiana. 

"  We  discovered  each  other  nearly  at  the  same  time.  Four  of 
our  party  fired,  and  then  all  rushed  upon  them,  which  prevented 
their  carrying  anything  away  except  one  shot-gun  without  any 
ammunition.  Mr.  Boone  and  myself  had  a  pretty  fair  shot,  just 
as  they  began  to  move  off.  I  am  well  convinced  I  shot  one 
through;  the  one  he  shot  dropped  his  gun,  mine  had  none.  The 
place  was  very  thick  with  canes,  and  being  so  much  elated  on  re- 
covering the  three  little  broken-hearted  girls,  prevented  our 
making  further  search.  We  sent  the  Indians  off  without  their 
moccasins,  and  not  one  of  them  with  so  much  as  a  knife  or  tom- 
ahawk." 

The  return  with  the  rescued  girls  was  the  occasion  for  great 
rejoicing.  To  crown  their  satisfaction  the  young  lovers  haci 
proved  their  prowess,  and  under  the  eye  of  the  greatest  of  all 
woodsmen  had  shown  their  skill  and  courage.  They  had  fairly 
won  the  girls  they  loved.  Two  weeks  later  a  general  summons 
went  throughout  the  little  settlements  to  attend  the  first  wedding 


52 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 


ever  solemnized  on  Kentucky  soil.  Samuel  Henderson  and  Bet- 
sey Callaway  were  married  in  the  presence  of  an  approving  com- 
pany that  celebrated  the  event  with  dancing  and  feasting.  The 
formal  license  from  the  county  court  was  not  waited  for,  as  the 
court-house  of  Fincastle,  of  which  county  Kentucky  was  part, 
was  distant  more  than  six  hundred  miles.  The  ceremony  con- 
sisted of  a  contract  with  witnesses,  and  religious  vows  admin- 
istered by  Boone's  brother,  who  was  an  occasional  preacher  of 
the  persuasion  popularly  known  as  Hardshell  Baptists.  Frances 
Callaway  became  within  a  year  the  wife  of  the  gallant  Captain 
John  Holder,  afterward  greatly  distinguished  in  the  pioneer 
annals;  and  Boone's  daughter  married  the  son  of  his  friend 
Callaway. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


TROUBLES    BEGIN    TO    MULTIPLY. 

f^r 

^1  F  the  first  ten  years  of  the  existence  of 
Boonesborough,  the  year  of  its  founding, 
though  perhaps  not  the  most  prosperous, 
was  certainly  the  most  peaceful  the  place 
had.  After  the  capture  of  the  girls, 
as  just  related,  other  harassing  incidents 
occurred,  to  be  followed  soon  after  by  a 
terrible  warfare  with  the  Indians,  and  an 
obstinate  attack  on  the  fort,  as  will  be 
presently  described. 

When  Boone  went  to  Kentucky,  under 
the  employment  of  Colonel  Henderson,  in 
1773,  it  was  as  an  agent,  so  to  speak,  to  ex- 
amine, explore  and  open  up  that  section  of 
the  country  that  the  Transylvania  company  had  obtained  as  already 
explained,.  The  lands  acquired  by  purchase  from  the  Cherokee^ 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  BOONE.  53 

constituted  an  area  equal  to  that  of  the  present  commonwealth  of 
Kentucky,  though  the  boundary  lines  were  not  fully  made,  nor 
were  the  limits  circumscribed  by  the  State  lines  as  they  now  exist. 
It  is  impossible  at  this  Jay  to  definitely  define  the  extent  of  that 
purchase  because  the  surveys  were  never  completed,  but  the  tract 
included  a  considerable  portion  of  what  is  now  West  Virginia, 
western  Tennessee  and  nearly  the  western  two-thirds  of  Kentucky. 
It  was  within  these  limits  that  Colonel  Henderson  designed  the 
establishment  of  an  independent  republic,  the  right  of  which  was 
not  disputed  until  about  the  year  1778.  The  settlers  took  leases 
of  lands  within  the  Transylvania  district  from  the  company,  and 
the  independent  character  of  the  governmental  organization  was 
further  recognized  by  the  assembling  of  a  convention  at  Boones- 
borough,  which  was  attended  by  eighteen  delegates,  at  which  the 
company  was  declared  the  government.  At  this  convention 
courts  of  justice  were  established  and  the  rules  for  all  proceedings 
therein.  A  militia  law  was  also  enacted,  by  which  all  persons 
subject  to  military  service  were  required  to  be  enrolled  and  to 
perform  a  certain  amount  of  drilling  and  active  duty.  Singularly 
enough,  at  this  same  assembling  a  law  was  passed  for  the  pre- 
servation of  game.  "  This  was,"  as  Peck  says,  "  the  first  polit- 
ical convention  ever  held  in  the  western  valley  (west  of  the 
Cumberland  range)  for  the  formation  of  a  free  government." 

ANNOYED    BY    THE   INDIANS. 

Hostilities  between  Great  Britain  and  the  American  colonies 
were  not  confined  wholly  to  the  New  England,  Middle  and  South- 
ern States,  for  the  influence  of  the  English  extended  to  what  was 
then  the  far  west,  where  they  secured  the  services  of  several 
tribes  of  Indians  that  made  attacks  upon  the  settlers,  which  led 
finally  to  a  regular  Indian  war,  in  which  Boonesborough  and  the 
surrounding  settlements  suffered  greatly.  It  was  at  first  believed 
that  the  independent  republic  would  be  exempt  from  Indian  mo- 
lestation, but  England  refused  to  consider  Transylvania  as  other 
than  an  appanage  of  the  colonies,  and  therefore  the  Kentucky 
settlers  were  subjected  to  all  the  injuries  that  a  savage  foe,  acting 
as  allies  of  the  crown,  could  inflict.  The  result  of  this,  eventu- 


54 


STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


ally,  was  an  overthrow  of  the  British  posts  in  Illinois  and  Indiana, 
in  1778,  and  the  transfer  of  the  west,  ultimately,  to  the  American 
Union. 

ALARM   OF   THE    SETTIERS. 

The  capture  of  the  Boone  andCallaway  girls,  though  attended, 
fortunately,  by  no  tragic  consequences,  served,  nevertheless,  to 


HARASSMENTS    OF    EARLY 
SETTLERS. 

spread  great  alarm  among  the 
I  settlers,  who  were  thus  made  to  realize  the  constant 
Hj peril  of  their  surroundings.  Many  entertained  a 
sanguine  belief  in  the  final  triumphs  of  English 
arms,  and  learning  that  the  Indians  were  now  in  open  hostility 
against  the  whites,  as  allies  of  the  British,  created  such  con- 
sternation that  no  less  than  three  hundred  surveyors,  hunters  and 
land  speculators  that  had  come  to  Kentucky  for  permanent 
settlement,  hastily  packed  up  their  movable  possessions  and  re- 
turned to  their  several  old  homes  in  the  east  For  a  time  it 
appeared  as  if  the  entire  country  of  Kentucky  would  be  abaa- 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL   BOONE.  55 

doned,  so  general  was  the  alarm  of  the  people,  and  no  doubt 
would  have  been  but  for  the  influence  of  Boone  and  other 
courageous  spirits  that  had  united  their  fortunes  with  his. 
Among  these  bold  adventurers  who  helped  Boone  save  Kentucky, 
whose  names  have  passed  into  history,  were  Simon  Kenton,  John 
Floyd,  and  the  four  McAfee  brothers.  The  former  had  settled 
in  Kentucky  in  the  spring  of  '75,  and  at  once  became,  in  connec- 
tion with  Boone,  a  governing  spirit  in  the  settlements. 

THE  ATTACK  ON  BOONESBOROUGH. 

Notwithstanding  the  grave  alarm  that  possessed  the  people  after 
the  capture  of  the  Boone  and  Qallaway  girls,  the  settlers  enjoyed 
a  period  of  immunity  from  further  Indian  outrages  for  nearly  one 
year.  The  settlements,  however,  received  very  few  new  mem 
bers  until  July  of  1777,  when  a  party  of  forty-five  men  from 
North  Carolina  came  into  the  territory  and  made  their  camp  in 
the  vicinity  of  Boonesborough.  Their  coming  caused  much  re- 
joicing to  the  settlers,  who  had  lived  so  long  in  constant  fear 
of  an  attack  from  the  Indians ;  and  particularly  glad  were  the 
people  of  Boonesborough,  who  had  sustained,  though  with  little 
loss,  a  fierce  attack  made  upon  them  by  a  band  of  one  hundred 
Indians  the  preceding  April. 

It  was  less  than  one  month  after  the  arrival  of  the  new  party 
that  another  attack  was  made  on  Boonesborough,  this  time  by  a 
band  of  Cherokees  numbering  more  than  two  hundred.  These 
Indians  had  the  aid  of  several  others  from  neighboring  tribes  who 

o  o 

were  sent  simultaneously  against  the  white  settlements  about 
Bryan  Station,  Harrodsburg  and  Lexington,  more  to  harass  the 
people  of  those  places  and  hold  them  in  a  state  of  alarm  so  as  to 
prevent  the  reinforcement  of  Boonesborough.  Thus  having 
placed  the  other  stations  in  a  state  of  siege  by  their  allies,  the 
Cherokees  invested  Boonesborough  and  attempted  its  reduction 
by  starving  out  the  garrison.  Perceiving  their  tactics,  Boone  in- 
vited the  Indians  to  a  combat  by  deploying  some  of  his  men  and 
opening  a  fire  on  the  besiegers  from  the  adjacent  woods  and  cov- 
ering his  retreat  into  the  fort  again.  By  this  means  several  men 
would  sally  out  and  deliver  their  fire,  taking  the  chances  of  get- 


fcf  out 


WILD 


ting  back  into  the  fort  and  luring  the  Indians  after  them.  Two 
days  and  nights  were  spent  in  this  daring  invitation  to  battle, 
until  at  length  the  Indians  opened  the  attack  in  earnest,  but  were 
met  with  a  resistance  so  heroic  that  they  retired  after  losing  seven 
of  their  warriors  and  twice  as  many  wounded. 


BATTLE   OF    BOONESBOKOUGH. 


This  battle  is  declared  by  some  of  Boone's  biographers  to  have 
occurred  only  a  few  days  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  party  of 
forty-five  hunters,  and  it  is  so  made  to  appear  in  Boone's  auto- 
biography, but  in  the  sequence  of  his  narrative  it  is  placed  after 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  6t 

and  circumstances  clearly  indicate  that  the  attack  was  made  at  a 
time  when  the  garrison  was  strongest.  In  this  connection  I  may 
add  that  nearly  all  the  writers  on  the  history  of  Kentucky  fix  the 
date  of  the  Indian  attack  on  Logan's  Fort  and  Harrodsburg  in 
May,  1777;  whereas,  Boone  states  that  the  two  attacks  were  made 
on  the  nineteenth  of  July,  subsequent  to  that  on  Boonesborough, 
which  is  unquestionably  an  error.  We  also  know,  by  Boone's 
admissions,  that  after  the  attack  on  Boonesborough  the  settlers 
of  that  section  were  not  again  seriously  molested  by  Indians  until 
some  time  in  February  of  the  folio  wing  year.  In  a  spirit  of  self- 
gratulation  Boone  thus  writes  of  the  results  of  the  attack  on  the 
fort: 

"  The  savages  now  learned  the  superiority  of  the  Long  Knife, 
as  they  called  the  Virginians,  by  experience;  being  out-generaled 
in  almost  every  battle.  Our  affairs  began  to  wear  anew  aspect, 
and  the  enemy,  not  daring  to  venture  an  open  war,  practiced 
secret  mischief  at  times." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

BOONE  IS  AGAIN  MADE  PRISONER  BY   THE  INDIANS 

URING  the  winter  of  1777-78,  the  peo- 
ple began  to  suffer  greatly  for  salt,  the 
cost  of  bringing  so  heavy  an'  article 
across  the  mountains  on  horseback 
being  so  great  that  but  few  of  them 
could  afford  to  use  it.  Therefore, 
after  considering  the  matter,  it  was 
decided  that  thirty  men,  headed  by  Boone,  should  take  such 
kettles  as  could  be  spared,  and  proceed  to  the  Lower  Blue 
Licks,  on  Licking  river,  and  there  manufacture  salt.  They  com- 
menced operations  on  New  Year's  day,  1778. 


58  6TOUY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

In  this  expedition  Boone  served  in  the  several  positions  of  cap- 
tain, hunter  and  scout,  his  chief  duties  being  to  provide  meat  for 
the  men  and  guard  against  surprise.  The  party  proceeded  with 
their  work  without  molestation  until  the  seventh  of  February 
when  Boone,  while  hunting  some  distance  from  the  lick,  was 
surprised  by  a  party  of  two  hundred  Indians  and  made  captive. 
The  danger  of  his  own  situation,  though  in  the  hands  of  inveter- 
ate foes,  gave  Boone  less  concern  than  his  anxiety  for  the  safety 
of  those  working  at  the  lick.  Understanding  the  Indian  charac- 
ter thoroughly  Boone  put  his  knowledge  to  excellent  use  now. 
Knowing  that  the  party  of  salt  makers  were  practically  defense- 
less against  so  large  a  force,  and  that  the  Indians  would  certainly 
attack  them  unless  some  strategy  were  devised  to  prevent  such  a 
calamity,  Boone  adopted  the  tactics  that  once  before  served  him 
so  admirably:  instead  of  appearing  depressed  or  sullen,  he  ac- 
cepted his  fate  with  apparent  satisfaction  and  so  conducted  him- 
self as  to  win  the  admiration  of  his  captors.  His  next  step  was 
to  make  favorable  terms  with  the  Indians  for  the  surrender  of  his 
friends  at  the  lick,  in  which  he  was  so  far  successful  as  to  secure 
a  promise  that  in  the  event  of  their  quiet  surrender  his  party 
should  receive  honorable  treatment.  A  submission  of  the  salt 
makers  having  thus  been  provided  for,  Boone  led  the  Indians  into 
the  presence  of  his  party  and  advised  a  peaceable  capitulation, 
which  was  immediately  obeyed,  and  thus  without  the  firing  of  a 
gun,  or  injury  of  a  single  one  of  the  really  defenseless  party,  the 
Indians  took  their  captives  away  to  old  Chillicothe,  the  prin- 
cipal town  on  Little  Miami,  and  on  the  eighteenth  of  February 
turned  over  their  charge  to  the  British  authorities  there.  This 
admirable  strategy  of  Boone' s  not  only  saved  himself  and  party 
from  massacre,  but  prevented  an  attack  on  Boonesborough  also. 
The  men  captured  at  Blue  Licks  were  paroled  in  a  few  days  ana 
returned  to  their  friends,  but  nevertheless,  Boone  was  subse- 
quently tried  by  a  court-martial  for  his  conduct  in  advising  the 
surrender  of  his  party,  which  resulted,  however,  not  only  m  his 
honorable  discharge,  but  also  a  special  approval  by  the  court 
of  his  wisdom  and  service. 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL   BOONE.  59 

BOOXE    IS   ADOPTED    BY   THE   SHAWANESE. 

Though  the  party  captured  at  the  lick  were  paroled  by  the 
British  and  permitted  to  quietly  return  to  Boonesborough,  an- 
other fate  was  reserved  for  Boone  himself,  for  his  reputation,  so 


BOONE  UNDERGOING  THE  CEREMONY  OF  ADOPTION  BY  THE  TRIBE. 

well  established  among  the  Indians,  was  now  to  lead  him  into 
new  trials.  The  British  desired  to  include  him  in  the  parole  to 
which,  however,  the  Indians  objected,  nor  would  they  restore 
him  to  liberty,  though  a  ransom  of  one  hundred  pounds  was 
offered  them  by  the  governor,  their  desire  being  to  adopt  him 
into  their  tribe,  reckoning  the  value  of  his  services  to  them  very 


60  SfORt  OF  $HE  WILD  WEST. 

highly  and  hoping  to  gain  his  confidence  by  a  course  of  generous 
treatment,  which  they  began  forthwith  to  show  him. 

This  determination  of  the  Indians  greatly  distressed  Boone, 
who  now  foresaw  a  long  and  doubtful  interval  between  his  sepa- 
ration from  his  family  and  a  return  to  them  again,  but  he  was 
too  wise  to  manifest  any  disappointment  or  vexation  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Indians,  which  must  have  excited  greater  vigilance  in 
their  guard  over  him  and  thereby  lessened  the  possibility  of  es- 
cape. On  the  other  hand,  he  expressed  much  pleasure  with  their 
company  and  a  desire  to  become  a  faithful  companion  and  fol- 
lower of  the  band.  Thus  deceived  by  his  conduct,  Blackfish, 
chief  of  the  Shawanese,  adopted  Boone,  with  much  ceremonial 
display,  as  his  son,  to  supply  the  place  of  a  favorite  son  who 
had  fallen  in  a  battle  with  the  white  settlers  sometime  in  the  pre- 
ceding year. 

After  his  adoption  Boone  was  regarded  with  great  affection  by 
his  Indian  father  and  mother,  and  was  treated  on  all  occasions 
with  marked  attention  as  a  distinguished  hunter  and  mighty 
brave.  He  took  care  to  encourage  this  affection  for  him,  and 
treated  all  his  fellow-warriors  in  the  most  familiar  and  friendly 
manner.  He  joined  them  in  their  rifle  and  musket  shooting 
contests,  and  gained  great  applause  by  his  skill  as  a  marksman  ; 
but  was  careful  not  to  excel  them  too  frequently,  as  nothing  will 
so  soon  excite  the  envy  and  hatred  of  an  Indian  as  to  be  beaten 
at  anything  in  which  he  takes  pride. 

After  he  had  been  with  them  some  time  he  was  permitted  to 
go  alone  into  the  woods  in  quest  of  game,  but  his  powder  was 
always  measured  to  him  and  his  balls  counted,  and  when  he  re- 
turned he  was  required  to  account  in  game  for  all  the  ammunition 
he  could  not  produce.  But  by  using  small  charges  of  powder, 
and  cutting  balls  in  halves,  with  which  he  could  kill  squirrels  and 
other  small  game,  he  managed  to  save  a  few  charges  of  powder 
and  ball  for  use  in  case  he  should  find  an  opportunity  to  escape, 

WONDERFUL   ESCAPE    OF   BOONE. 

Early  one  afternoon,  in  the  June  following  his  capture,  Boone 
was  much  distressed,  upon  returning  from  a  customary  hunt,  to 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  61 

find  nearly  five  hundred  Indians  collected  in  Chillicothe,  fitted  out 
with  war-paint  and  weapons,  contemplating  a  descent  upon  the 
settlement  at  Boonesborough.  He  at  once  decided  to  lose  no 
more  time,  but  make  his  escape  immediately,  and  proceed  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  the  settlements  in  Kentucky,  and  alarm  the 
people  in  time  to  save  them  from  a  general  massacre. 

That  night  he  secreted  about  his  person  some  jerked  venison, 
to  sustain  him  during  his  long  journey,  and  early  the  next  morn- 
ing he  left  the  Indian  village,  with  his  gun  on  his  shoulder,  as  if 
he  were  going  into  the  woods  for  his  usual  day's  hunt.  But 
after  wandering  about  for  some  time,  as  if  in  quest  of  game,  in 
order  to  allay  the  suspicions  of  any  spies  that  might  follow  him, 
and  having  placed  several  miles  between  himself  and  the  town, 
he  suddenly  changed  his  course  in  the  direction  of  Boonesborough, 
and  set  off  with  all  his  might  for  his  beloved  home.  The  distance 
exceeded  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  which  he  traveled  in  less 
than  five  days,  eating  but  one  regular  meal,  which  was  a  turkey 
that  he  shot  after  crossing  the  Ohio  river. 

Until  he  left  that  stream  behind  him,  his  anxiety  was  very 
great,  for  he  knew  that  he  would  be  followed,  and  being  but  an 
indifferent  swimmer  he  anticipated  trouble  in  crossing  the  river. 
But  he  was  rejoiced  upon  reaching  its  banks  to  find  an  old  canoe 
that  had  floated  into  the  brush  and  lodged.  There  was  a  hole  in 
one  end  of  it,  but  this  he  contrived  to  stop,  and  the  frail  vessel 
bore  him  safely  to  the  Kentucky  shore. 

His  appearance  at  Boonesborough  was  almost  like  one  risen 
from  the  dead,  and  he  was  received  by  the  garrison  with  joyful 
shouts  of  welcome.  His  capture  and  journey  to  Detroit  were 
known  by  reports  of  prisoners  who  had  escaped,  but  his  friends 
did  not  expect  ever  to  see  him  again.  His  wife,  despairing  of 
his  return,  had  conveyed  herself  and  some  of  the  children,  on 
pack-horses,  to  her  father's  home  in  North  Carolina,  and  he  keen- 
ly felt  the  disappointment  at  not  meeting  her.  The  tongue  of 
calumny,  too,  ever  ready  to  stir  up  strife,  endeavored  to  bring 
about  a  permanent  separation  of  these  two  devoted  people,  but 
without  success,  though  it  cqst  them  botb^  much  trouble  and  an- 


62  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

guish.  This  is  a  period  of  Boone's  life  that  he  never  mentioned 
to  his  most  intimate  friends,  and  justice  to  a  noble  reputation 
demands  that  the  historian  should  also  cover  it  with  the  mantle 
of  silence. 

A   BRUSH   WITH   THE   INDIANS. 

As  he  had  expected,  upon  Boone's  arrival  at  the  fort  he  found 
it  in  a  sorry  state  of  defense.  The  long  period  of  quiet  that  had 
succeeded  the  attack  on  Boonesborough,  and  the  lack  of  a  leader, 
caused  the  garrison  to  relapse  into  a  state  of  negligence  which, 
had  the  Indians  taken  advantage  of,  must  have  resulted  in  the 
capture  of  the  fort  and  probable  massacre  of  those  within  it. 
Boone,  therefore,  aroused  the  people  from  their  lethargy  and  set 
about  at  once  making  the  fort  secure  against  attack.  His  energy 
was  not  immediately  necessary,  however,  since  his  escape  had 
caused  the  Indians  to  forego  their  intention  of  making  a  descent 
on  the  garrison,  but  they  made  their  camps  in  the  vicinity  and 
threatened  the  several  settlements  in  that  section. 

After  a  month  of  expectancy  more  harassing,  possibly,  than 
an  open  attack,  Boone  decided  to  make  a  foray  with  the  view  of 
feeling  the  strength  and  position  of  the  enemy.  Accordingly, 
taking  thirty  woll-n*"ned  men,  LJ  marched  by  night  as  far  as  the 
banks  of  the  Scioto,  where  he  surprised  a  camp  of  fifty  Indians 
and  fell  upon  them  with  such  impetuosity  that  they  retreated 
precipitately  after  firing  a  single  volley,  leaving  two  of  their 
dead  in  the  hands  of  Boone.  Immediately  after  this  attack 
Boone  learned  that  the  Indians  he  had  fired  upon  was  a  detach- 
ment from  a  large  party  under  Blackfish  and  eight  Canadian 
officers,  on  their  way  to  Boonesborough.  Following  fast  on  their 
trail,  Boone  overtook  and  stealthily  passed  the  main  body  of  In- 
dians, nearly  five  hundred  strong,  and  by  rapid  traveling  day  and 
night  he  reached  the  fort  nearly  one  day  in  advance  of  the  enemy, 
thus  having  time  to  arouse  the  garrison  to  their  danger  and  p;  e- 
pare  for  the  threatened  attack. 

THE  SIEGE  OF  BOONKSBOROUGH. 

The  Indians,  who  were  commanded  by  Captain  Duquesne,  act- 
ing under  orders  of  Hamilton,  British  governor  of  the  northwest. 


M  STORY   OP   THE   WILD   WEST. 

appeared  before  the  fort  on  the  eighth  of  July.  Displaying  the 
British  flag,  Duquesne  demanded  an  immediate  surrender  of  the 
garrison,  coupling  the  demand  with  a  threat  of  massacre  in  the 
event  of  a  refusal. 

Boone  asked  time  to  consult  with  his  comrades,  and  employed 
the  delay  thus  secured  in  preparing  for  the  siege.  The  pioneers 
resolved  unanimously  to  fight  to  the  death.  Captain  Duquesne, 
disappointed  in  his  hopes  of  surprise  or  surrender,  next  asked 
a  conference  with  nine  of  the  pioneers.  Strange  as  it  may 
appear,  Boone,  for  the  only  time  in  all  his  frontier  experi- 
ence, was  deluded  by  the  shallow  artifice.  Accompanied  by 
eight  ethers,  among  whom  were  Flanders  Callaway,  Stephen 
Hancock,  William  Hancock  and  Squire  Boone,  he  went  out 
of  the  stockade  to  treat  with  the  enemy.  A  crowd  of  Indians 
immediately  surrounded  the  little  party,  while  Duquesne  at- 
tempted to  engage  their  attention  in  a  talk  about  the  surrender  of 
the  post.  At  length  it  was  suggested  that  a  solemn  custom  of  the 
Indians  should  be  observed  —  that  the  hands  of  each  white  man 
should  be  grasped  by  two  warriors  in  a  token  of  permanent  friend- 
ship. Boone  acquiesced,  and  the  warriors  approached  and  seiz- 
ing the  hands  of  the  whites  tried  to  make  them  prisoners.  Those 
from  the  fort  seeing  the  treachery,  fired  upon  the  Indians  and 
covered  the  retreat  of  the  party  as  they  fled  back  into  the  stock- 
ade. In  this  melee  Squire  Boone  was  wounded  quite  seriously. 
The  incident  brought  upon  Boone  for  a  time  a  suspicion  with  some 
that  he  was  not  at  heart  true  to  his  fellow  pioneers  But  the 
injurious  thought  was  soon  dismissed,  and  Boone's  frank  expla- 
nation "  that  he  didn't  know  how  it  happened,  but  he  had  played 
the.  great  fool,"  was  accepted  as  true.  It  was  the  first  and 
only  time  that  the  old  pioneer  lost  even  for  a  moment  his 
sagacity  and  self-possession.  He  had  the  singular  gift  of  becom- 
ing more  discreet  and  resourceful,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
daring,  as  danger  became  more  pressing. 

The  main  body  of  Indians,  who  were  prepared  for  the  turn  af- 
fairs had  taken,  now  rushed  forward  and  made  a  furious  assault 
upon  the  fort.  But  they  met  with  a  warm  reception,  and  were 
soon  glad  to  withdraw  to  th$  cover,  of  the  woods  again. 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE, 


65 


After  the  first  assault  they  remained  at  a  respectful  distance, 
for  they  had  a  wholesome  dread  of  the  rifles  of  the  Kentuckians, 
which  would  shoot  further  and  with  much  greater  accuracy  than 
their  old  smooth-bore  muskets.  Most  of  their  balls  were  spent 


THE    INVESTMENT   OF   BOONESBOROUGH LURKING   BESIEGERS. 

before  they  reached  the  fort,  and    fell  harmlessly  back  from  tfce 
tough  oaken  palisades. 

Finding  they  could  not  carry  the  fort  by  assault,  they  attempted 
to  set  it  on  fire,  by  throwing  combustibles  on  the  roofs:  and  for 
a  time  this  new  mode  of  attack  seemed  about  to  prove  successful. 
Put  a  daring  young  maEi  climbed  to  the  roof  in  the  miast  of  $ 


66  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST, 

shower  of  balls,  and  remained  there  with   buckets  of  water  until 
the  fire  was  extinguished. 

Failing  in  this  attempt,  the  Indians,  under  directions  from  the 
Canadians,  resorted  to  another  experiment,  and  tried  to  enter  the 
fort  by  means  of  a  mine.  The  fort  stood  about  sixty  yards  from 
the  river,  and  they  began  an  excavation  under  the  bank,  which 
concealed  them  from  view.  But  their  project  was  detected  by 
the  muddy  water  seen  at  a  little  distance  below,  and  it  was  de- 
feated by  the  Kentuckians,  who  began  a  countermine  within  the 
fort,  and  threw  the  dirt  over  the  palisades.  While  the  men  were 
engaged  in  digging  this  mine,  Captain  Boone  constructed  a  wooden 
cannon,  which  was  loaded  with  powder,  balls,  old  nails,  pieces  of 
iron,  etc.  It  was  his  intention  to  place  this  instrument  at  the 
head  of  the  mine,  and  as  the  Indians  entered,  fire  it  into  their 
midst.  But  on  the  20th  of  the  month  they  raised  the  siege  and 
departed  for  their  own  country,  having  lost  thirty-seven  warriors 
killed,  and  many  more  wounded.  The  Kentuckians  had  two  men 
killed,  and  four  wounded. 

During  the  siege,  which  lasted  nine  days,  the  women  and  girls 
moulded  bullets,  loaded  the  rifles,  and  carried  ammunition  to  their 
husbands,  fathers  and  brothers;  besides  preparing  refreshments, 
nursing  the  wounded  and  assisting  in  various  other  ways.  Jemima 
Boone,  while  carrying  ammunition  to  her  father,  received  a  con- 
tusion in  her  hip  from  a  spent  musket  ball,  which  caused  a  pain-; 
ful,  though  fortunately  not  a  dangerous  wound. 

While  the  parley  was  in  progress  between  Boone  and  the  In- 
dians, previous  to  the  first  attack,  a  negro,  who  had  been  whipped 
a  few  days  before  by  his  master  in  the  fort,  deserted,  and  went 
over  to  the  enemy,  carrying  with  him  a  large,  long-range  rifle. 
He  crossed  the  river,  and  stationed  himself  in  a  tree,  so  that  by 
raising  his  head  above  a  fork,  he  could  fire  directly  down  into  the 
fort.  He  had  killed  one  man  and  wounded  another,  when  Boone 
discovered  his  head  peering  above  the  fork  for  another  shqt. 
"  You  black  scoundrel !  "  said  the  old  pioneer,  as  he  raised  his 
rifle  to  his  shoulder,  "  I'll  fix  your  flint  for  you,"  and  quickly 
running  his  eye  along  the  bright  barrel  of  ins  rifle,  be  fired.  The 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  BOONE. 


67 


negro  fell,  and  at  the  close  of  the  battle  was  found  at  the  roots  of 
the  tree  with  a  bullet  hole  in  the  center  of  his  forehead.  The 
distance  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  yards. 

Boone  states  that  during  the  siege  the  garrison  sustained  a  loss 
of  only  two  men  killed  and  four  wounded,  while  the  loss  of  the 
enemy  was  certainly  thirty-seven,  and  probably  many  more. 
After  the  battle  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds  weight  of 
oullets  were  picked  out  from  the  logs  of  the  fort,  fired  into  it  by 
the  Indians. 


CHAPTEE 

ROONE  IS  AMBUSHED  AND  ROBBED  OF  A  LARGE  SUM  OF  MONEY. 


FTEE  the  successful  repulse  of  the  In- 
dians from  before  Boonesborough, 
which  proved  to  be,  as  Marshall  ob- 
serves, the  most  formidable  siege  that 
ever  took  place  in  Kentucky  during  any 
of  the  Indian  wars,  Boone  returned  to 
North  Carolina,  whither  his  wife  had 
gone  two  months  before.  He  remained 
with  his  family  on  the  Yadkin  river 
until  the  summer  of  1780,  when  hi)  re- 
turned again  to  Kentucky  with  his  wife 
and  a  large  supply  of  things  specially  useful  to  the  early  settlers. 
Among  other  valuables  which  he  brought  away  with  him  was  a 
sum  of  $20,000,  entrusted  to  him  by  persons  in  North  Carolina 
to  take  to  their  friends  in  Kentucky.  At  this  time  a  rapid  settle- 
ment of  the  territory  was  being  made  and  the  pioneers  were  en- 
tering homesteads  and  taking  pre-emptions  which  required  money 
to  hold  and  perfect  the  titles.  The  funds  therefore  entrusted  to 
Boone  were  contributed  by  friends  and  relatives  of  those  in  North 
Carolina  for  this  purpose.  While  on  the  route  Boone  was  set 
upon  by  a  large  party  of  ladies  and  white  renegades  who,  »o 


68 


STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST, 


doubt  had,  in  some  way,  received  information  that  a  large  treas- 
ure was  in  his  possession,  and  after  an  unequal  struggle  he  was 
overpowered  and  the  money  taken  from  him.  This  stroke  of 
misfortune  fell  with  terrible  effect  upon  Boone,  for  not  only  was 
a  large  portion  of  the  total  .sum  his  own,  for  which  he  felt  the 
least  concern,  but  the  principal  part  belonged  to  his  intimate  and 
very  poor  friends,  who  could  least  afford  its  loss. 

But  in  addition  to  this  sorrowful  fact  many,  reflections  were 
cast,  though  without  a  scintilla  of  reason,  upon  his  honesty  by 


ATTACK  ON  THE  EMIGRANTS  AND  ROBBING  OF  BOONE. 

those  who  had  known  him  longest  and  best.  This  imputation 
caused  him  the  keenest  anguish,  and  so  depressed  him  that 
Colonel  Thomas  Hart  addressed  the  following  letter  under  date  of 
August  3,  1780,  to  his  brother,  Captain  Nathan  Ha-it,  with  in- 
struction that  the  confidence  therein  expressed  be  communicated  to 
Boone.  Both  of  the  Harts  were  large  losers  by  the  robbery :  — 
"  I  observe  what  you  say  respecting  our  losses  by  Daniel 
Boone.  I  had  heard  of  the  misfortune  soon  after  it  happened, 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  69 

but  not  of  my  being  partaker  before  now.  I  feel  for  the  poor 
people  who,  perhaps,  are  to  lose  even  their  pre-emptions;  but  I 
must  say,  I  feel  more  for  Boone,  whose  character,  I  am  told, 
suffers  by  it.  Much  degenerated  must  the  people  of  this  age  be, 
when  amongst  them  are  to  be  found  men  to  censure  and  blast  the 
reputation  of  a  person  so  just  and  upright,  and  in  whose  breast 
is  a  seat  of  virtue  too  pure  to  admit  of  a  thought  so  base  and  dis- 
honorable. I  have  known  Boone  in  times  of  old,  when  poverty 
and  distress  had  him  fast  by  the  hand ;  and  in  these  wretched 
circumstances,  I  have  ever  found  him  a  noble  and  geoerous 
soul,  despising  every  thing  mean;  and  therefore  I  will  freely 
grant  him  a  discharge  for  whatever  sums  of  mine  he  might  have 
been  possessed  of  at  the  time." 

KILLING   OF   BOONE *S   BROTHEK. 

Soon  after  Boone' s  return  to  Kentucky  with  his  family,  or 
some  time  in  the  October  following,  he  went  to  the  Blue  Licks 
with  his  brother  Squire,  on  the  double  mission  of  hunting  and 
oxamining  the  salt  works  that  had  been  erected  there.  The  two 
remained  in  the  vicinity  of  the  licks  for  two  days  without  en- 
countering any  Indians  or  discovering  signs  that  the  neighbor- 
hood had  been  visited  by  enemies  for  several  months  past. 
When  on  the  point  of  returning  to  Boonesborough,  however,  they 
were  fired  upon  by  a  party  of  Indians  in  ambush  and  the  gallant 
Squire  Boone  was  instantly  killed,  but  Daniel  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  escape  injury.  As  he  darted  into  the  bushes  he  saw  a  dozen 
or  more  Indians  rush  upon  his  dead  brother  and  cut  the  scalp 
from  his  head.  This  delay  gave  Boone  a  good  start  of  his  foes 
which  he  maintained  until  night  set  in  and  he  felt  he  had  baffled 
all  pursuit.  His  fancied  security  was  soon  after  dissipated  by 
the  appearance  of  a  large  dog  hard  on  his  trail,  giving  voice  at 
every  bound  like  a  hound  on  the  track  of  a  deer.  Boone  now 
knew  that  he  was  being  hotly  pursued  and  his  spirits  fell  rapidly, 
but  he  immediately  decided  upon  his  action.  Throwing  his  gun 
to  his  shoulder  ho  shot  the  dog  when  it  was  almost  in  the  act  of 
springing  upon  him,  then  doubling  back  to  confuse  his  trail  he  raK 
off  at  an  angle  from  his  former  course  and  easily  threw  the  In- 


X  ,1..^ 


^Mb   )  r  ,?'-^v,   ^U»W> 

^^ 

^   ^i3^^^^^^^m§^^ 

-  ^'*£j$ffi1^2^i£ .          <^/.  ^ 


70  THE   KILLING   AND    SCALPING   OP    BOONE'S    BROTHER. 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL   BOONE. 


71 


dians  off  his  track.     After  a  hard  run   of  nearly  two  days  he 
reached  the  fort  in  safety,  but  was  almost  spent  with  fatigue. 

The  loss  of  his  favorite  brother,  following  so  soon  after  the 
misfortune  which  befell  him  on  the  route  to  Kentucky,  and  the 
loss  of  confidence  of  some  of  his  friends,  as  already  described, 
threw  Boone  into  a  state  of  melancholia  from  which  he  would 
have  hardly  recovered,  but  for  the  stirring  events  which  speedily 
succeeded.  The  Indians  had  again  invaded  the  territory  and  be- 


RENDEZVOUS   OF   THE    KENTUCKY   MILITIA. 

gan  a  massacre  of  the  settlers,  besides  threatening  every  garrison, 
several  of  which  had  been  invested  and  two,  Ruddle's  station 
and  Martin's  fort,  captured.  The  time  for  energetic  action  by 
every  pioneer  was  at  hand.  The  day  had  arrived  when  the  dead 
must  bury  their  dead  and  the  living  must  perform  their  duty. 

In  the  latter  part  of  October,  the  territory  of  Kentucky  was 
divided  into  three  counties  by  the  legislature  of  Virgin!^,  and  a 
military  and  civil  organization  was  perfected.  Each  county 
formed  a  regiment,  of  which  that  in  Lincoln  was  headexl  by 


72  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

Boone  as  lieutenant-colonel.  Colonel  Clark  assumed  command 
of  the  three  regiments,  and  placed  himself  immediately  at  the 
head  for  active  operations.  This  show  of  a  strong  military  force 
had  the  good  effect  of  overawing  the  Indians  for  more  than 
a  year,  during  which  time  the  settlements  enjoyed  peace  and 
great  prosperity.  In  fact,  1781  was  the  most  prosperous  year 
ever  passed  by  the  settlers  up  to  the  time  of  the  admission  of 
Kentucky  to  the  Union  in  1792. 

RESCUE    OF   BOONE    BY   SIMON    KENTON. 

One  incident  alone  is  recorded  of  any  molestation  of  the  set- 
tlers or  posts  during  the  favorite  year  of  '81,  and  some  historians 
have  even  made  bold  to  dispute  the  report  in  this  particular  in- 
stance. Without  vouching  for  its  authenticity,  or  throwing  any 
discredit  upon  the  popular  version  of  the  event,  if  it  occurred* 
I  will  content  myself  with  describing  the  incident  as  previous  bi- 
ographers of  Boone  have  done:  It  is  related  that  when  Gen. 
Clark  became  invested  with  the  military  leadership  of  the  west, 
by  Gov.  Patrick  Henry,  he  placed  great  reliance  on  Daniel 
Boone  as  his  coadjutor  in  Kentucky  in  defending  the  frontier 
stations  against  the  Indians.  General  Clark  assumed  the  general 
superintendence  of  the  border  settlements  and  organized  a  com- 
pany of  spies,  for  the  payment  of  whom  the  General  pledged  the 
faith  of  Virginia.  This  body  of  spies  was  charged  with  the  duty 
of  scouting  up  and  down  the  Ohio  river,  watching  the  signs  of 
Indian  approach  and  reporting  to  Colonel  Boone,  who  appointed 
two  cf  these  spies,  one  of  whom  was  the  renowned  Simon  Ken- 
ton.  In  selecting  Kenton,  Boone  brought  into  service  a  man 
who  has  since  been  cherished  in  Kentucky  for  heroic  bravery  as 
second  only  to  himself. 

The  Indians,  no  doubt  spurred  on  by  the  British  commanders 
at  Detroit  and  Vincennes,  were  intent  on  destroying  the  stations 
in  Kentucky,  particularly  Boonesborough,  which  place  was  to 
them  the  one  most  dreaded  because  it  held  in  safety  the  man 
whose  skill  and  boldness  was  proof  against  the  terrors  of  solitude 
and  the  wiles  of  a  savage,  cunning  and  relentless  foe. 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL   BOONE. 


73 


During  Boone's  command  of  the  fort  he  was  frequently  in- 
debted to  this  roving  body  of  spies  for  early  information  of  the 
enemy's  design,  and  for  efficient  service  in  the  hour  of  attack. 
He  knew  his  enemy  and  felt  that  with  such  a  lurking  foe  there 
was  no  hour  for  quiet. 

On  one  occasion,  Kenton,  while  still  engaged  in  the  spy  service, 
and  having  his  headquarters  at  the  fort,  took  up  his  gun  early 
one  morning  and  went  out  in  quest  of  game.  Just  before  leaving 
the  gate  of  the  fort,  however,  he  saw  two  of  his  own  men  at 
some  distance  in  a  cleared  field  fired  upon  by  several  In- 


SIMON    KENTON. 

dians.  The  men  not  being  hit,  ran  with  ail  their  speed,  followed 
by  the  savages  in  pursuit,  who  overtook  one  of  the  poor  fellcws 
and  tomahawked  and  scalped  him  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of 
the  fort.  Kenton  drew  a  bead  with  his  trusty  rifle  on  the  savage 
perpetrator  of  the  deed  and  shot  him  dead  en  the  spot.  He  then 
gave  chase  to  the  others.  Colonel  Boone,  hearing  the  alarm  in 


74  stoRf  OF  THE  wiLt>  WEST. 

the  fort,  rushed  out  with  ten  men  to  the  assistance  of  Ken- 
ton.  The  Indians  did  not  retreat  without  a  fight,  Kenton  killing 
one  of  them  in  the  act  of  firing  on  Boone's  party.  Warmed  up 
by  the  skirmish,  Boone  did  not  recognize  in  how  large  force  the 
Indians  had  collected  until  he  found  himself  unexpectedly  cut  off 
from  the  fort  by  a  body  of  savages  who  had  got  in  his  rear.  The 
crisis  called  for  a  bold  movement.  Boone  gave  the  signal  to  fire 
and  charge,  which  order  was  promptly  obeyed  by  his  men,  but 
they  were  met  by  a  withering  volley  from  the  Indians,  so  effec- 
tively delivered  that  six  of  the  ten  men  were  badly  wounded,  and 
Boone  himself  fell  with  a  broken  leg,  and  in  the  next  moment 
seemed  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  Indians.  One  of  the  savages 
rushed  upon  him  with  uplifted  tomahawk  to  cleave  Boone's  skull, 
but  fortunately  Kenton  saw  the  danger  that  threatened  and  before 
the  fatal  stroke  could  be  given  he  shot  the  Indian  dead.  Kenton 
and  his  men  then  rushed  up  to  the  rescue  of  the  wounded  party, 
and  seizing  Boone  and  raising  him  on  his  shoulders,  carried  him 
back  into  the  fort,  while  the  Indians  were  kept  at  bay  by  the 
men  that  hud  escaped  injury.  Boone  was  ever  afterwards  warm 
in  the  expressions  of  his  gratitude  to  Kenton.  At  this  time  it  is 
ft  sort  of  poetical  justice  to  reflect,  that  the  remains  of  Simon 
Kenton,  who  died  in  1836,  repose  in  the  same  cemetery  at  Frank- 
fort, Kentucky,  with  those  of  Daniel  Boone,  his  early  companion 
of  pioneer  days. 

The  year  1782  was  as  eventful  for  its  calamities  as  was  '81 
distinguished  for  peaceful  and  uninterrupted  prosperity,  and 
may  be  reckoned  as  the  most  trying  and  disastrous  year  in  all 
the  annals  of  Kentucky,  though  more  than  one-half  the  year  had 
passed  before  any  trouble  with  the  Indians  occurred. 

THE   SIEGE   OF   BRYANS'    STATION". 

On  the  fourteenth  of  August  one  of  the  principal  posts  in  the 
territory,  that  had  been  settled  by  three  brothers  of  Boone's  wife, 
James,  William  and  Daniel  Bryan,  and  named  in  their  honor 
Bryans*  Station,  situated  five  miles  northeast  of  Lexington,  was 
attacked  by  a  force  of  five  hundred  Indians  under  the  notorious 
white  renegade,  Simon  Girty,  a  man  as  much  dreaded  among 


76 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    "WEST. 


Kentucky  settlers  as  was  Quantrcll  during  the  guerrilla  wariare 
on  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  borders. 

The  garrison  at  Bryans'  numbered  scarcely  fifty  men,  and  even 
this  small  force  was  illy  prepared  for  the  attack,  which  came  as 
a  surprise,  at  a  time  when  the  defenses  of  the  fort  were  in  poor 
'condition.  But  though  few  in  number,  and  disadvantaged  in 
other  ways,  every  man  within  the  stockades  was  a  hero  who  had 
met  odds  before,  and  they  were  none  the  less  willing  to  hazard  a 
battle  under  unequal  conditions  now. 

The  attack  was  begun  by  an  advance  body  of  twenty  Indians, 
who  came  close  to  the  fort  and  delivered  their  fire,  retreating 


PRESENT    SITE    OF    BRYAN  S    STATION. 

quickly  again  to  the  cover  of  the  adjacent  woods.  This  was  no 
doubt  a  ruse  to  entice  the  garrison  from  the  fort  into  a  pursuit, 
as  the  main  party  had  not  as  yet  shown  themselves  and  were  con- 
cealed in  a  place  from  whence  they  could  most  readily  cut  off 
retreat  should  the  garrison  sally  out.  But  there  were  several 
within  the  fort  who  were  old  Indian  fighters  and  knew  the  tactics 
of  their  cunning  foe.  Runners  were  quietly  dispatched  from  the 
fort  for  assistance,  who  crept  out  so  secretly  that  they  were  not 
detected  bv  the  Indians,  while  the  garrison  maintained  a  stolid 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  77 

and  fearless  silence,  awaiting  an  onslaught  which  they  had  every 
reason  to  believe  would  soon  be  made. 

But  while  the  Indians  continued  to  show  themselves  in  small 
parties,  they  made  no  further  demonstration  than  firing  an  occa- 
sional shot,  evidently  still  expecting  that  the  defenders  of  the 
fort  would  make  a  sortie  and  leave  the  entrances  to  the  stockade 
exposed. 

THE   BRAYE   WATER-CARRIERS. 

It  unfortunately  and  unwisely  happened  that  Bryan  Station 
had  been  selected  and  built  without  regard  to  a  water  supply. 
Not  only  was  there  no  well  or  spring  within  the  walls,  but  the 
nearest  source  was  quite  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant.  The  garri- 
son, fearing  a  siege,  and  distress  for  want  of  water,  which  seemed 
now  to  threaten,  debated  for  some  time  the  question  of  how  this 
approaching  need  could  be  supplied,  finally  deciding  that  women 
from  the  fort  should  be  sent  with  buckets  to  bring  in  such  quan- 
tity as  might  suffice  for  two  days.  It  was  wisdom  that  dictated 
this  course,  for  women  had  invariably  performed  this  duty  for 
the  garrison  and  to  send  them  now  would  serve  to  allay  any  sus- 
picion that  the  Indians  might  have,  and  lead  to  the  impression 
among  them  that  the  garrison  was  resting  under  the  belief  that 
the  enemy  had  either  drawn  off,  or  were  in  no  considerable  num- 
ber about  the  fort. 

When  the  decision  was  communicated  to  the  women  nearly 
all  of  them  refused  to  undertake  the  perilous  duty,  but  after 
the  situation  was  fully  explained,  a  resolute  old  lady  offered  to 
go  alone  to  the  spring,  at  the  same  time  saying  that,  being  so 
aged,  her  services  were  of  little  use,  and  that  should  she  be  killed 
her  loss  would  be  felt  much  less  than  if  one  of  the  men  were 
slain.  This  spirited  and  patriotic  declaration  had  such  an  effect 
upon  the  other  women  present  that  more  than  twenty  now  volun- 
teered to  undertake  the  hazardous  duty.  Accordingly,  seizing 
buckets,  they  marched  boldly  out  and  to  the  spring,  singing  and 
laughing  on  the  way  in  order  to  better  deceive  the  Indians.  They 
each  filled  their  buckets  in  turn  without  betraying  the  least  alarm, 
although  they  felt  certain  that  within  a  few  yards  several  bun- 


78 


DEFENSE   OF    BRYAN   STATION- 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL  BOONB.  79 

Ired  Indians  were  lying  concealed,  awaiting  the  first  favorable 
opportunity  to  make  a  strategic  entry  into  the  fort.  The  women 
returned  with  their  buckets  filled  with  water,  to  the  great  relief 
of  the  garrison,  without  drawing  the  fire  of  a  single  Indian. 

BRINGING   ON  THE   ENGAGEMENT. 

A  supply  of  water  having  now  been  provided,  it  was  decided 
to  bring  on  an  engagement  by  a  cunning  move  up  on  the  enemy 
which  would  bring  them  within  range  of  the  deadly  rifles  from 
the  fort.  Thirteen  men  were  accordingly  sent  out  to  attack  the 
small  party  of  Indians  that  continued  to  make  a  demonstration, 
and,  as  had  been  anticipated,  the  Indians  retreated  at  the  first 
fire  in  such  a  manner,  too,  as  to  invite  pursuit.  When  the  thir- 
teen had  chased  the  fleeing  savages  a  short  distance  the  main 
body  of  Indians,  who  were  concealed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
fort,  as  was  well  known  to  the  garrison,  rushed  out  from  their 
place  of  hiding,  headed  by  Girty,  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the 
pursuing  party,  believing  that  the  entire  garrison  had  been  de- 
coyed out  of  their  defenses.  But  the  Indians  speedily  learned 
their  fatal  mistake  by  being  met  with  a  galling  fire  from  the  thir- 
ty-five rifles  yet  within  the  fort,  which  >-ent  those  that  escaped 
the  rain  of  bullets  pell-mell  back  again  to  cover.  The  thirteen 
that  had  first  gone  out  to  bring  on  the  battle  returned  now  to  the 
fort  without  one  of  them  receiving  so  much  as  a  wound,  though 
they  had  killed  three  of  the  enemy. 

After  retiring  to  hold  a  consultation  the  Indians,  in  combined 
force,  made  a  second  charge,  headed  by  Girty  himself,  but  they 
were  received  with  such  a  murderous  fire  that  again  they  fled  in 
consternation.  Perceiving  now  the  futility  of  attempting  to  take 
the  fort  by  assault,  Girty  disposed  the  Indians  about  the  garrison 
to  cut  off  all  possibility  of  escape  and  then  settled  down  to  a 
siege,  keeping  up  in  the  meantime  a  desultory  fire  as  a  warning 
of  his  presence. 

AMBUSH  OF  A  RELIEF  PARTY. 

Towards  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  relief  party  from  Lex- 
ington, Eumjbering  fifty  men,  QQ  horseback  and  afoot,  arrived 


80 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


before  the  fort  in  response  to  the  call  made  upon  them  by  mes- 
sengers sent  out  in  the  morning.  Their  approach  had  been  dis- 
covered by  the  Indians  who  laid  in  ambush,  from  which  they 


ARRIVAL   OP    RE-ENFORCEMENTS    AT   BRYAN   STATION. 

poured  a  heavy  fire  but  without  great  execution.  The  horsemen 
plunged  through  without  losing  a  man,  and  the  footmen  would 
have  been  equally  fortunate  but  for  an  exhibition  of  imprudent 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL  BOONE.  81 

daring.  Supposing  the  enemy  to  be  in  small  force  on  account  of 
the  ineffectual  attack  on  the  horsemen,  the  footmen  left  a  corn- 
field, through  which  they  were  passing  in  concealment  from  the 
Indians,  and  dashing  out  into  the  clearing  in  search  of  the  enemy 
they  were  received  by  a  volley  that  killed  six  of  their  number, 
Their  loss  would  have  been  much  greater  but  for  the  fact  that  the 
boldness  with  which  the  attack  was  made  led  the  Indians  to  believe 
that  a  larger  re-enforcement  was  at  hand,  and  therefore  after  fir- 
ing a  single  volley  they  fled  to  cover  and  were  in  favor  of  retreat- 
ing back  to  Chillicothe. 

Girty  was  furious  at  being  foiled  in  his  attempt  to  subdue  the 
station  by  force,  and  smarting  from  a  slight  wound  received  in 
the  morning,  resorted  to  stratagem  with  the  hope  of  gaining  his 
purpose.  He  crawled  to  a  stump,  near  one  of  the  bastions,  and 
demanded  a  parley.  Commending  their  manly  defense  and  brav- 
ery, he  urged  that  further  resistance  was  useless,  alluded  to  the 
large  number  and  fierceness  of  his  followers,  and  asserted  that  he 
had  a  large  re-enforcement  near  at  hand,  with  several  piece. s  of  ar- 
tillery. He  warned  them  that  if  they  continued  to  resist,  and 
were  finally  captured  by  force,  they  would  all  be  massacred;  but 
assured  them,  "  upon  his  honor,"  that  if  they  would  surrender 
then,  they  should  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war.  The  com- 
mander of  the  station  would  not  deign  to  pay  the  least  attention 
to  him,  but  he  was  answered  in  a  taunting  and  pungent  manner 
by  a  young  man  named  Reynolds,  who  told  him  that  he  had  a 
worthless  dog,  to  which  he  had  given  the  name  of  Simon  Girty, 
in  consequence  of  his  striking  resemblance  to  the  man  who  bore 
that  name ;  that  if  he  had  artillery  and  re-enforcements  he  might 
bring  them  on,  but  if  he  or  any  of  the  naked  rascals  with  him 
found  their  way  into  the  fort,  they/would  disdain  to  use  their 
guns  against  them,  but  would  drive  them  out  with  whips,  of 
which  they  had  collected  a  large  number  for  that  purpose.  When 
he  ceased  speaking,  some  of  the  young  men  began  to  call  out, 
"  Shoot  the  scoundrel !  "  "  Kill  the  renegade  I  "  etc.,  and  Girty, 
seeing  that  his  position  was  no  longer  safe,  crawled  back,  crest- 
fallen, to  the  camp  of  his  followers,  and  next  morning  they  hadi 
(JitsappearedU,  $ 


82  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

PUKSim   OF    THE  INDIANS. 

UCCESSFUL  and  decisive  as  had  been  the  defense 
of  Bryan  Station,  with  a  complete  rout  of  the  In- 
dians, yet  it  was  not  to  conclude  hostilities,  nor 
was  it  to  be  the  most  serious  battle  in  which  the 
early  settlers  had  to  engage.  The  news  of  the  in- 
vestment of  the  station  had  spread  with  almost 
inconceivable  rapidity,  and  an  equally  quick  re- 
sponse  was  made  to  the  cry  of  distress.  On  the 
morning  following  the  retreat  of  the  Indians  assistance  arrived 
in  the  shape  of  militia  bodies  from  all  the  neighboring  forts  and 
stations,  until  a  party  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  well  armed  men 
was  gathered  together,  most  of  them  from  Boonesborough, 
Harrodsburg  ar/1  Lexington.  Among  those  who  had  thus  has- 
tened to  Bryan  were  Daniel  Boone,  his  son  Israel,  and  his  brother 
Samuel,  besides  many  other  brave  spirits  whose  names  have  be- 
come imperishable  in  Kentucky  history. 

Within  a  few  hours  after  the  re-enforcements  arrived,  &  Consult- 
ation had  been  held,  at  which  it  was  decided  to  begin  at  once  a 
pursuit  of  the  fleeing  Indians,  whose  trail  was  plainly  visible 
leading  by  way  of  the  Lower  Blue  Licks.  Boone  alone  opposed 
this  hasty  action,  but  with  such  reasons  as  must  have  prevailed 
among  less  hot-headed  and  over-courageous  militia.  He  admon- 
ished the  men  that  a  pursuit  in  their  unprepared  condition  must 
certainly  lead  them  into  an  ambush.  He  called  their  attention  to 
the  prominent  trail  which  the  Indians  had  left,  the  cast  off  gar- 
ments and  utensils  which  were  strewn  along  the  path,  and  partic- 
ularly the  marks  upon  the  trees  on  the  line  of  retreat,  which  were 
evidently  made  to  insure  and  enable  the  pursuit  to  be  pushed 
rapidly,  and  thus  the  more  surely  lead  the  pursuers  into  an  ambush. 
Boone  urged  that  Colonel  Logan  was  then  on  the  way  to  the 
station  with  a  considerable  body  of  men,  and  that  it  were  tne 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  BOONE.  83 

part  of  wisdom  to  await  his  arrival  so  that  the  forces  could  be 
consolidated  and  afterwards  divided,  as  precaution  might  dic- 
tate, and  the  Indians  surrounded,  or  be  brought  between  two 
fires,  which  could  have  been  done  by  a  proper  distribution  of  the 
force  available  after  forming  a  junction  with  Logan. 

But  Boone's  counsel  was  opposed  by  words  of  bravado,  and  the 
pursuit  was  begun  almost  regardless  of  every  tactic  known  to 
those  experienced  in  fighting  the  Indians. 

A   CRITICAL   SITUATION. 

The  march  was  quite  rapid  for  several  miles  and  until  Blue 
Licks  was  reached.  No  Indians  had  as  yet  been  seen,  but  the 


THE   BATTLE    ON  LICKING   RIVER. 

trail  was  growing  fresher  and  some  little  precaution  was  now 
observed,  as  even  those  most  anxious  for  a  fight  began  to  seri- 
ously reflect  on  Boone's  advice.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  militia 
at  Licking  Eiver,  a  few  Indians  were  noticed  skulking  among  the 
brush  on  the  opposite  side,  but  betraying  little  anxiety  to  ooa- 


84  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

ceal  themselves  or  to  throw  off  pursuit.  This  discovery  led  Major 
McGary,  who  was  in  command,  to  call  a  halt  for  consultation. 
A  sight  of  the  enemy  had  suddenly  cooled  the  eager  desire  be- 
fore manifested  and  a  disposition  was  now  shown  to  consider  the 
position,  which  appeared  to  be  one  of  grave  danger.  Boone  was 
accordingly  appealed  to  for  that  advice  which  had  only  a  few 
hours  before  been  scorned,  with  an  imputation  of  cowardice;  but 
like  the  really  brave  always  are,  Boone  harbored  no  animosities 
for  the  treatment  accorded  his  former  counsel,  but  willingly  lent 
his  advice,  which  was  to  the  following  effect:  He  declared  that 
their  situation  was  critical  in  the  extreme ;  that  the  force  opposed 
to  them  was  undoubtedly  very  large  and  ready  if  not  eager  for 
battle,  as  might  be  readily  judged  from  the  leisurely  retreat  of 
the  few  Indians  who  had  appeared  upon  the  crest  of  the  hill ; 
that  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  ground  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Licks,  and  was  apprehensive  that  an  ambuscade  was 
formed  at  the 'distance  of  a  mile  in  advance,  where  two  ravines, 
one  upon  each  side  of  the  ridge,  ran  in  such  a  manner  that  a  con- 
cealed enemy  might  assail  them  at  once  both  in  front  and  flank 
before  they  were  apprised  of  the  danger.  Under  the  circum- 
stances, therefore,  Boone  urged  that  one  of  two  things  be 
at  once  resolved  upon,  viz.,  either  to  await  the  arrival  of  Logan, 
who  was  now  undoubtedly  on  his  march  to  join  them ;  or,  to  make 
an  immediate  attack  by  disposing  the  force  as  follows:  one-half 
their  number  should  be  sent  up  the  river  to  the  rapids,  and  there 
to  cross  and  fall  upon  the  enemy's  rear,  while  the  other  division 
would  begin  a  simultaneous  attack  in  the  front.  But  whatever 
course  might  be  resolved  upon  Boone  cautioned  his  associates 
against  uncovering  their  position  by  crossing  the  river  until 
the  ground  was  first  thoroughly  reconnoitered. 

THE   ATTACK. 

McGary  listened  with  some  impatience  to  Boone' s  counsel,  and 
being  a  man  of  sudden  impulses,  he  abruptly  left  Boons,  and 
mounting  his  horse  dashed  down  the  bank  and  into  the  shallow 
river,  at  the  same  time  giving  the  challenge,  "  All  who  are  not 
will  follow  me  1  ' '  In  another  moment  the  whoie  party 


86  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

plunged  into  the  stream  and  rapidly  crossing,  rode  in  a  swift 
gallop  towards  the  spot  where  the  last  Indians  had  been  seen. 
As  they  reached  the  junction  of  two  well  wooded  ravines,  where 
a  high  ridge  headed,  that  was  almost  bare  of  growth,  a  murder- 
ous fire  blazed  forth  as  if  from  the  very  ground,  that  sent  the 
van  in  wild  disorder,  for  the  Indians  were  in  such  a  dense  cover 
that  they  did  not  show  themselves.  The  rear  closed  \:p  rapidly 
to  the  assistance  of  their  comrades,  but  only  to  fall  into  the  am- 
bush that  the  Indians  had  so  skilfully  laid.  The  whole  party 
was  now  flanked  and  enclosed  as  if  in  the  wings  of  a  net,  and  ex- 
posed to  a  galling  fire.  The  destruction  was  terrible.  Young 
Israel  Boone,  Daniel's  youngest  son,  was  among  the  first  to  fall, 
for  he  rode  directly  in  the  front  and  sought  the  most  dangerous 
position.  Officers  Harland,  McBride,  Todd  and  Trigg,  one  after 
the  other  fell  before  the  dreadful  blast  of  death ;  but  notwith- 
standing their  disadvantages  the  whites  fought  with  desperate 
bravery.  Daniel  Boone  proved  himself  a  hero  here  again  by 
forging  to  the  front  and  baring  himself  to  the  blaze  of  the  In- 
dians' guns  and  arrows  over  the  body  of  his  fallen  son. 

THE   SLAUGHTER. 

But  despite  the  valor  of  the  whites  their  unequal  force  was  at 
last  compelled  to  give  way  before  the  consuming  fire  that  was 
poured  upon  them.  The  Indians  extended  their  lines  until  the 
whites  were  entirely  surrounded,  and  the  rapidly  melting  band 
was  thrown  into  disorder  that  was  soon  after  followed  by  a  rout 
and  terrific  slaughter.  The  whites  broke  through  the  line  and 
fled  towards  the  river  pursued  by  the  Indians,  who,  with  toma- 
hawks, hewed  down  scores  and  left  a  trail  of  mutilated  men  from 
the  ridge  back  and  across  the  stream.  The  whites  that  were, 
mounted  generally  escaped,  but  those  on  foot  made  no  further 
resistance,  throwing  away  their  arms  and  trusting  to  fleetness 
alone  for  safety.  At  the  crossing  the  slaughter  was  even  more 
terrible,  for  many  of  the  men  could  not  swim  and  even  those  that 
could,  being  retarded  by  the  stream  gave  time  for  the  entire  body 
of  Indians  to  come  upon  them  and  with  arrows,  rifles,  stones  and 
tomahawks  they  shot  many  and  dashed  the  brains  out  of  others 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE. 


87 


while  a  number  was  drowned  in  a  vain  effort  to   cross,  until  the 
river  was  almost  choked  with  the  dead. 

Boone  was  among  those  on  foot,  but  when  the  rout  began,  in- 
stead of  fleeing  with  the  main  body  of  his  comrades,  he,  with 


BOONE   FIGHTING    OVER   THE    BODY   OF    HIS   DEAD   SON. 

twelve  others,  made  off  down  the  ravine  which  had  just  been 
abandoned  by  the  Indians,  and  making  his  way  down  the  stream 
to  a  ford,  he  finally  crossed  and  returned  to  Bryan  Station. 
Scarcely  had  he  reached  the  post,  however,  when  he  met  Colonel 
Logan  advancing,  who,  up  to  this  time,  was  ignorant  of  the 


&8  STORf  6tf  THE   WILD  WEST. 

movement  made  by  McQary.  Upon  learning  from  Boone  the 
particulars  of  the  disaster  at  Licking  river,  he  made  a  forced 
march  to  the  scene,  guided  by  Boone,  but  arrived  too  late  to  be 
of  any  assistance,  as  the  Indians  had  drawn  off  from  the  pursuit 
in  anticipation  of  the  arrival  of  re-enforcements,  and  went  on  to 
!  Old  Chillicothe.  They  rendered  a  useful  service,  however,  in 
giving  burial  to  the  dead,  after  which  Boone  returned  to  Boones- 
borough  and  there  made  out  a  report  of  the  battle,  which  he 
transmitted  to  the  governor  of  Virginia,  Benjamin  Harrison,  as 
follows:  — 

"Boone's  Station,  Fayette  County,  August  30th,  1782, 
"  SIR:  Present  circumstances  of  affairs  cause  me  to  write  to 
your  Excellency  as  follows:  On  the  16th  instant,  a  large  numbe* 
of  Indians,  with  some  white  men,  attacked  one  of  our  frontier 
stations,  known  by  the  name  of  Bryans'  Station.  The  siege  con- 
tinued from  about  sunrise  till  about  ten  o'clock  the  next  dayv 
when  they  marched  off.  Notice  being  given  to  the  neighboring 
stations,  we  immediately  raised  one  hundred  and  eighty-one 
horse,  commanded  by  Colonel  John  Todd,  including  some  of  tde 
Lincoln  county  militia,  commanded  by  Colonel  Trigg,  and  pur- 
sued about  forty  miles. 

"  On  the  19th  instant,  we  discovered  the  enemy  lying  in  wait  for 
us.  On  this  discovery,  we  formed  our  columns  into  one  single 
line,  and  marched  up  in  their  front  within  about  forty  yards  before 
there  was  a  gun  fired.  Colonel  Trigg  commanded  on  the  right, 
myself  on  the  left,  and  Major  McGary  in  the  center,  and  Major 
Harland  the  advanced  party  in  front.  From  the  manner  in 
which  we  had  formed,  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  bring  on  the  attack. 
This  was  done  with  a  very  heavy  fire  on  both  sides,  and  extended 
back  of  the  line  to  Colonel  Trigg,  where  the  enemy  was  so  strong 
they  rushed  up  and  broke  the  right  wing  at  the  first  fire.  Thm 
the  enemy  got  in  our  rear,  with  the  loss  of  seventy-seven  of  ou>. 
men,  and  twelve  wounded.  Afterwards  we  were  re-enforced  by 
Colonel  Logan,  which  made  our  force  four  hundred  and  sixty 
men.  We  marched  again  to  the  battle  ground;  but,  finding  the 
enemy  had  gone,  we  proceeded  to  bury  the  dead. 

"  We  found  forty-three  on  the  ground,  and  many  lay  about, 
which  we  could  not  stay  to  find,  hungry  and  weary  as  we  were, 
and  somewhat  dubious  that  the  enemy  might  not  have  gone  off 
quite.  By  the  sign,  we  thought  that  the  Indians  had  exceeded 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL 


89 


four  hundred ;  while  the  whole  of  the  militia  of  this  county  does 
not  amount  to  more  than  one  hundred  and  thirty.  From  these 
facts  your  Excellency  may  form  an  idea  of  our  situation. 

"  I  know  that  your  own  circumstances  are  critical ;  but  are  we 
to  be  wholly  forgotten?  I  hope  not.  I  trust  about  five  hundred 
men  may  be  sent  to  our  assistance  immediately.  If  these  shall 


FORD   AT   BLUE   LICKS,  SCENE   OF   THE   MASSACRE, AS   IT   NOW  APPEARS. 

be  stationed  as  our  county  lieutenants  shall  deem  necessary,  it 
may  be  the  means  of  saving  our  part  of  the  country ;  but  if  they 
are  placed  under  the  direction  of  General  Clark,  they  will  be  of 
little  or  no  service  to  our  settlement.  The  falls  lie  one  hundred 
miles  west  of  us,  and  the  Indians  northeast;  while  our  men  are 
frequently  called  to  protect  them .  I  have  encouraged  the  people 
in  this  county  all  that  I  could ;  but  I  can  no  longer  justify  them 
or  myself  to  risk  our  lives  here  under  such  extraordinary  hazards. 


90  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

• 

The  inhabitants  of  this  county  are  very  much  alarmed  at  the 
thoughts  of  the  Indians  bringing  another  campaign  into  our 
country  this  fall.  If  this  should  be  the  case,  it  will  break  up 
these  settlements.  I  hope,  therefore,  your  Excellency  will  take 
this  matter  into  your  consideration,  and  send  us  some  relief  as 
quick  as  possible. 

"  These  are  my  sentiments,  without  consulting  any  person. 
Colonel  Logan  will,  I  expect,  immediately  send  you  an  express, 
by  whom  I  humbly  request  your  Excellency's  answer.  In  the 
meanwhile,  I  remain,  &c.  "  DANIEL  BOONE." 


CHAPTER    X. 

A   RETALIATORY   EXPEDITION, 

HE  troubles  of  1782  did  not  end  with  the 
disaster  at  Blue  Licks,  though  it  was  now 
that  the  Kentuckians  became  the  aggres- 
sors and  carried  the  war  into  the  heart  of 
the  Indian  settlements. 

A  retaliatory  expedition  was  immedi- 
ately proposed  by  Gen.  Clark,  who,  first 
calling  a  council  of  his  officers,  formulated 
a  plan  for  devastating  that  portion  of 
Kentucky  where  the  Indians  had  estab- 
lished permanent  homes  and  were  carry- 
ing on  a  commerce  with  the  British  besides  paying  some  atten- 
tion to  agriculture.  It  was  first  thought  to  be  necessary  to 
issue  a  draft  for  the  requisite  number  of  troops,  but  at  the  earli- 
est intimation  of  Gen.  Clark's  wishes  enough  volunteers  and 
supplies  were  offered  to  more  than  meet  the  requirement,  and  an 
assembling  soon  took  place  at  Bryans'  Station,  where  one  thou- 
sand well  armed  and  mounted  men  proffered  their  services.  The 
organization  being  completed  at  this  post  the  force  was  divided 
into  two  detachments,  under  the  respective  leaderships  of 
Colonels  Logan  and  Floyd,  and  then  marched  to  Licking,  where 
Gen.  Clark  assumed  command.  Daniel  Boone  participated  in  the 
expedition,  but  not  as  an  officer,  presumably  on  account  of  the 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  HI 

unjust  reports  then  being  circulated  regarding  his  conduct  at  the 
battle  of  Blue  Licks;  for,  though  his  counsel,  and  action  as  well, 
on  that  occasion,  was  that  of  a  brave  and  sagacious  soldier,  yet 
the  original  charge  made  against  him  by  McGary  —  or  rather  im- 
plied by  the  challenge  which  that  impulsive  officer  gave  when 
leading  his  men  into  the  fight  —  had  still  some  circulation,  if  not 
influence.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  Boone  served  as  a 
volunteer  in  the  Clark  expedition,  on  which  account  little  is 
known  of  his  acts,  but  that  he  demeaned  himself  with  bravery 
and  good  judgment  may  confidently  be  assumed. 

Although  the  expedition  was  planned  with  great  care,  and  was 
composed  of  the  best  material  for  rapid  marching  and  effective 
fighting,  it  failed  to  accomplish  any  decisive  results,  beyond  the 
destruction  of  considerable  property  and  the  dispersion  of  the 
Indians  from  their  ancient  settlements.  Several  skirmishes  were 
had  with  prowling  bands,  in  one  of  which  seven  Indians  were  taken 
prisoners  and  four  killed,  with  a  loss  of  two  of  the  Kentuckians, 
but  beyond  this  no  other  fatalities  occurred,  and  after  several 
fatiguing  marches  with  invariably  barren  results  the  expedition 
"eturned  to  Bryan  Station  where  the  force  was  disbanded. 

ATROCITIES   PERPETRATED    BY   THE    INDIANS. 

The  failure  of  the  expedition  seems  to  have  served  the  opposite 
purpose  for  which  it  was  organized.  Gen.  Clark  believed  that 
with  a  properly  equipped  body  of  men,  and  in  such  force  as  to 
render  resistance  by  the  enemy  ineffectual  and  useless,  he  could 
lay  waste  the  Indian  villages  and  inspire  such  terror  that  the  set- 
tlers would  thereafter  be  exempt  from  further  depredation  by 
the  savages.  No  doubt  he  might  have  accomplished  this  object 
had  it  been  possible  for  him  to  meet  the  Indians  in  large  force 
and  defeat  them  in  a  decisive  battle,  but  this  he  was  unable  to 
do ;  for,  instead  of  massing,  to  resist  the  invasion  of  their  set- 
tlements, the  Indians  scattered,  and  in  small  bands  turned  back 
upon  the  unprotected  settlers  and  began  their  murderous  work 
among  the  defenseless  homes,  braining  women  and  children, 
shooting  down  unsuspecting  farmers,  stealing  stock,  and  commit- 
ting every  conceivable  atrocity. 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE. 


93 


In  this  devilish  and  savage  riot  the  squaws  performed  an  equal 
part,  for  to  them  was  frequently  delegated  the  bloody  work  of 
scalping  after  a  murder  in  the  field  or  on  the  highway  had  been 
eommitted,  and  in  a  hundred  well  authenticated  instances,  as 
recorded  in  the  history  of  Kentucky,  squaws  perpetrated  acts 
that  would  almost  mantle  the  cheeks  of  the  warriors  with  shame. 


INVASION   OP    THE   PEACEFUL   HOME. 

The  frequency  of  these  massacres,  as  well  as  the  boldness  with 
which  they  were  done,  reduced  the  settlers  in  middle  and  north- 
ern Kentucky  to  the  greatest  extremity,  and  checked  immigration 
entirely.  But  amid  all  the  gloom  that  pervaded  this  savage- 
cursed  section  there  were  still  occasional  manifestations  of  for- 
hme  that  inspired  hope  where  despair  would  otherwise  have 
entered  every  home  in  the  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground.  The 
Indians  sought  the  most  helpless,  forming  their  ambush  beside 
cultivated  fields,  or  stealthily  descended  upon  cabins  under  cover 
of  the  night  to  apply  a  torch  and  afterwards  hew  down  with  knife 
and  tomahawk  the  fleeing  inmates.  But  it  sometimes  happened 
that  the  families  thus  attacked  were  not  so  helpless  as  they  ap- 
peared, and  there  has  been  left  us  the  record  of  many  a  brave  and 


94  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

desperate  battle  fought  by  courageous  settlers  with  his  savage 
foe,  in  which  even  against  the  greatest  disadvantages  he  has  won 
victories  worthy  of  enduring  fame. 

MAJOR  BALLARD'S  GREAT  FIGHT. 

Bland  Ballard,  afterwards  known  as  Major  Ballard,  was  one  of 
the  brave  settlers  of  Kentucky  who  met  the  Indians  on  unequal 
ground  and  defended  his  home  successfully  against  a  score  of 
savages,  thus  linking  his  name  with  a  history  that  is  at  once 
sad  but  fascinating.  Mr.  Ballard  removed  with  his  family  from 
Virginia  in  1780,  and  after  two  short  stops  on  the  way  came  to 
Boonesborough  and  there  settled,  becoming  a  very  intimate  com- 
panion of  Daniel  Boone,  who  secured  for  him  an  official  appoint- 
ment in  what  was  known  as  the  spy-guard.  Just  what  this 
organization  was,  we  are  left  to  conjecture,  nor  is  it  related  what 
office  Mr.  Ballard  filled,  but  most  probably  it  was  that  of  lieu- 
tenant. There  is  also  some  confusion  in  the  history  as  to  whether 
it  was  the  father  or  son  who  participated  in  the  incident  about  to  be 
related.  In  one  account  before  me  there  is  no  mention  of  a  son, 
while  in  another  it  is  specially  stated  that  the  hero  was  ' '.  Bland 
Ballard,  the  son  of  Major  Ballard." 

In  1782  the  Ballards  removed  from  Boonesborough  to  a  place 
some  fifty  miles  distant,  known  as  Tyler's  Station.  There  was 
a  small  settlement  at  Tyler,  composed  exclusively  of  Virginians, 
among  the  families  being  that  of  Captain  Williamson's,  a  gentle- 
man frequently  mentioned  in  Kentucky  history.  He  had  a 
daughter,  Elizabeth,  famed  throughout  the  district  for  her  beauty, 
but  no  less  for  her  heroic  disposition,  displayed  on  more  than  one 
occasion,  when  an  attack  was  threatened  by  the  Indians.  Young 
Ballard  fell  in  love  with  Miss  Williamson,  directly  after  his  set- 
tlement at  Tyler,  and  after  a  brief  courtship  the  two  were  mar- 
ried. Soon  after  this  happy  consummation  of  their  loves,  young 
Ballard  erected  a  log  cabin  about  half  a  mile  from  the  stockade 
that  surrounded  Tyler  and  here  he  settled  with  his  pretty  bride, 
where  they  lived  without  molestation  for  nearly  one  month.  On 
account  of  the  somewhat  crowded  condition  of  Tyler,  the  elder 
followed  the  example  of  his  son  by  also  building  a  cabin  b$- 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL    BOONE. 


95 


yond  the  defenses  of  the  settlement,  into  which  he  immediately 
moved  with  his  considerable  family.  The  two  houses  were  lo^ 
cated  within  two  hundred  yards  of  each  other,  and  in  full  view, 
but  owing  to  intervening  woods  Tyler  Station  was  not  visible 
from  either. 

MASSACRE   OF    THE   BALLARD   FAMILY. 

The  elder  Ballard  had  not  been  settled  in  his  new  quarters 
more  than  a  week  when  one  morning  about  daybreak  his  cabin 
was  furiously  assaulted  by  a  band  of  twenty  Cherokee  Indians, 


HEROIC    DEATH    OF    MR.    BALLARD. 

who  burst  in  the  door  before  their  presence  became  known  to  the 
inmates,  and  proceeded  to  do  their  bloody  work.  Mr.  Ballard 
seized  the  only  weapon  at  hand,  and  attempted  to  defend  himself, 
but  after  striking  down  one  of  his  foes,  he  was  struck  on -the 
head  with  a  tomahawk  and  at  the  same  instant  stabbed  to  the 
heart,  before  he  could  make  any  further  resistance.  The  chil- 
dren, six  in  number,  two  boys  and  four  girls,  quickly  met  a  sim 
Uar  fate,  but  Mrs.  Ballard  managed  to  escape  through  a 


96  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

window,  and  fled  towards  her  son's  cabin  for  protection.  She 
was  discovered  by  the  Indians  when  midway  between  the  two 
cabins  and  three  of  the  savages  fired  at  her,  a  ball  from  one  of 
the  rifles  striking  her  in  the  side  and  knocking  her  down.  She 
struggled  to  her  feet,  however,  and  ran  on  until  she  reached  the 
door  of  her  son's  cabin,  where  she  fell,  covered  with  blood,  and 
expired  just  as  young  Ballard,  —  whom  we  will  call  Major,  by 
which  title  he  is  best  known,  —  awakened  by  the  firing,  rushed 
out  to  ascertain  the  cause. 

In  a  moment  he  comprehended  the  dreadful  situation  and  like 
the  brave  man  he  was,  prepared  to  give  battle  notwithstanding 
the  heavy  odds  against  him.  Grasping  his  rifle  and  ammunition 
pouch,  he  boldly  sallied  out  and  made  a  rush  for  the  woods  that 
were  near  at  hand,  bidding  his  wife  to  remain  in  the  cabin  and  to 
signal  to  him,  as  occasion  offered,  the  position  of  the  Indians. 
By  these  tactics  he  was  enabled  to  keep  the  savages  at  bay,  for 
though  strong  in  numbers  they  were  cowardly,  and  entertained 
great  dread  of  the  Kentuckians  whose  rifles,  they  had  learned 
before,  were  certain  instruments  of  death. 

Gaining  the  shelter  of  a  neighboring  tree,  as  the  Indians  ad- 
vanced towards  the  cabin  Major  Ballard  shot  the  chief  of  the 
party,  which  caused  them  to  withdraw  to  shelter  also.  He  moved 
from  tree  to  tree,  always  keeping  the  Indians  at  such  a  distance 
that  they  could  not  rush  upon  him  before  he  could  reload  his  gun 
after  firing,  and  being  an  excellent  marksman  he  kept  up  a  kind 
of  running  fight  around  his  cabin  until  he  had  killed  seven  of  the 
Indians  without  receiving  any  injury  himself.  During  all  this 
time  Mrs.  Ballard  showed  the  greatest  coolness,  appearing  at  the 
door  or  window  time  and  again  to  signal  the  position  of  the  en- 
emy, and  occasionally  to  speak  to  her  husband  as  he  came  within 
the  sound  of  her  voice. 

The  frequent  firing  of  guns  at  length  aroused  the  people  at 
Tyler's  Station,  and  a  dozen  men  came  out  of  the  stockade  to  as- 
certain the  cause,  but  armed  for  any  emergency.  When  this 
armed  force  came  into  view  the  Indians  beat  a  precipitate  retreat, 
leaving  their  dead  in  the  hands  of  the  brave  Ballard  to  expose  to 
any  indignity  he  might  chcose  to  inflict.. 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONB.  97 

This  fight,  the  particulars  of  which  are  so  well  authenticated, 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  memorable  that  ever  took 
place  in  the  warfare  between  Indians  and  whites  for  possession  of 
the  western  territory  and,  to  the  credit  of  Kentucky,  it  has  been 
appropriately  commemorated  by  legislative  action. 

For  many  years  Major  Ballard  and  his  heroic  wife  continued  to 
live  in  the  quiet  house  so  bravely  defended  by  them.  He  died 
on  his  farm  in  Shelby  county  on  the  fifth  of  September,  1853,  at 
the  advanced  age  of  ninety-three  years,  and  was  buried  on  the 
old  homestead  beside  his  wife,  who  had  preceded  him  to  the 
grave  many  years  before.  The  legislature  of  Kentucky,  in  the 
winter  of  1853-54,  passed  an  act  to  honor  the  bodies  of  Major 
Ballard  and  his  wife,  in  pursuance  of  which  in  the  following 
summer  they  were  taken  up  and  re-interred  at  a  public  funeral  at- 
tended by  the  members  of  the  legislature  and  many  other  prom- 
inent persons,  in  the  State  cemetery  at  Frankfort,  where  they 
repose  beside  those  of  Daniel  Boone. 

A   NEGRO   DEFENDS    A   FAMILY. 

The  attack  on  the  Ballard  family  was  but  one  of  a  hundred 
others  of  a  similar  nature,  made  upon  defenseless  homes  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Boonesborough,  Bryan,  Lexington  and  Tyler, 
and  the  whole  territory  was  thrown  into  a  state  of  the  wildest 
alarm.  In  the  vicinity  of  Crab  Orchard  settlement  an  attack  was 
made  upon  a  cabin  sheltering  a  woman  and  three  children.  It 
chanced  at  the  time  of  the  attack  the  husband  was  absent,  but  a 
negro  man,  a  neighbor,  was  in  the  cabin,  having  come  upon  a 
business  errand.  The  assailing  party  consisted  of  six  Indians 
who  were  bent  upon  the  double  purpose  of  massacre  and  pillage. 
As  they  approached  within  sight  of  the  cabin  one  of  the  Indians 
was  sent  forward  to  reconnoiter,  to  ascertain  if  any  men  were 
present  to  defend  the  home,  and  as  this  Indian  saw  only  a  woman 
and  her  children,  he  believed  them  to  be  defenseless  and  pushed 
open  the  door  and  entered.  But  his  reception  was  a  warm  one. 
The  negro  boldly  grappled  with  the  savage  and  in  a  trice  threw 
him  upon  the  floor  and  held  him  there  until  the  woman  could 
seize  an  ax  and  brain  him,  which  she  did  with  such  promptness 

7 


98  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

that  the  Indian  was  dead  before  his  comrades  could  come  to  his 
aid.  The  other  Indians  rushed  forward,  but  the  door  was  shut 
and  barred  in  their  faces.  With  great  presence  of  mind  the 


A   BRAVE   WOMAN  3   DEFENSE   OP   HER   HOME. 

woman  grabbed  down  from  its  rack  an  old  rusty  musket,  anu 
thrusting  the  muzzle  through  a  crack  gave  such  an  appearance  of 
valorous  resistance  that  the  five  Indians  beat  a  hasty  retreat. 


FLAT-BOAT    EMIGRATION. 


As  previously  mentioned,  emigration  to  Kentucky  had  almost 
entirely  Q  ^ased  on  account  of  the  depredations  committed  by  In- 


100  STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WES*T. 

dians,  which,  after  the  Clark  expedition,  became  more  numerous 
and  of  a  more  terrible  character  than  ever  before  in  the  history 
of  Kentucky.  But  the  great  flow  of  emigration  westward  con- 
tinued over  the  route  opened  by  Boone  through  Cumberland  Gap 
and  Powell's  valley.  Instead  of  following  that  course  into  Ken- 
tucky, however,  the  travel  was  northward  through  the  extreme 
eastern  part  of  the  territory  and  to  the  Ohio  river,  down  whicb 
the  tide  now  poured.  Flat-boat  building  became  a  great  indus- 
try, hundreds  being  constructed  near  the  headwaters,  in  which 
families  floated  with  all  their  possessions  to  lower  Louisiana, 
where  settlements  began  to  spring  up  rapidly  along  the  Missis- 
sippi banks.  This  mode  of  travel  continued  to  be  popular  with 
emigrants  for  nearly  fifty  years,  and  untilJohn  A.  Murrell's  band 
of  river  pirates  rendered  it  more  perilous  than  overland  routes. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  during  the  months  of  August,  Sep- 
tember and  October  of  1782,  no  fewer  than  five  hundred  families 
floated  down  the  Ohio  river  in  flat-boats,  seeking  homes  in  the 
newly  opened  up  territory  of  western  Tennessee  and  in  Arkansas, 
Mississippi  and  Louisiana.  This  cavalcade,  so  to  speak,  of  water 
craft,  freighted  as  they  were  with  horses,  cattle,  provisions,  etc., 
excited  the  cupidity  of  Indians  living  along  the  north  shore  of 
Kentucky,  and  this  new  path  of  safety  soon  became  a  route  of 
great  peril.  On  account  of  the  numerous  attacks  made  nearly 
every  day  on  the  occupants  of  these  boats  Daniel  Boone,  actmg 
under  authority  of  Governor  Harrison,  appointed  a  force  of  forty 
spies  to  patrol  the  river  banks  for  the  double  purpose  of  watching 
and  reporting  the  movements  of  Indians,  and  to  furn'sh  assist- 
ance, whenever  possible,  to  endangered  emigrants. 

MASSACRE    OF   A    FAMILY   AXD    CAPTURE   OF   TWO    GIRLS. 

At  the  head  of  the  spies  thus  appointed  were  Major  Ballard,  — 
whose  brave  fight  with  twenty  Indians  at  Tyler's  station  has 
just  been  described,  and  which  made  him  at  once  a  noted 
frontiersman,  —  and  Captain  McClanahan,  another  hero  whose 
dust  consecrates  Kentucky  soil. 

While  the  spies  were  reconnoitering  in  the  Miami  vallev,  they 
found  in  the  lonely  forest  a  young  man  in  tatters,  bewilderedi 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE.  101 

and  almost  famished  from  hunger,  who  had  effected  an  almost 
miraculous  escape  from  a  party  of  Indians,  the  particulars  of 
which  he  related  to  the  following  effect :  His  father,  mother  and 
their  fanrly  of  five  children  were  emigrating  to  West  Tennessee 
by  the  common  means  of  transportation,  a  flat-boat,  well  pro- 
visioned with  necessaries  for  establishing  themselves  in  a  new 
home,  when  they  were  attacked  by  fifty  Mississinawa  and  Potta- 
watami  Indians,  who  approached  the  boat  in  canoes  and  massa- 
cred the  entire  family  save  himself  and  a  sister  named  Harriet, 
and  another  young  lady,  a  relative,  named  Lucy  Smith.  He 
effected  his  escape  by  leaping  overboard  and  swimming  to  the 
shore  unperceived,  where  he  secreted  himself  in  the  hollow  of  a 
large  sycamore  tree  until  the  boats  had  floated  by.  He  gave  his 
name  as  Henry  Lane  and  stated  that  his  former  home  was  in 
Virginia,  but  what  place  has  been  forgotten. 

PURSUIT    OF   TUB    SAVAGES. 

The  immediate  wants  of  young  Lane  were  attended  to  and 
Major  Ballard  proposed  at  once  to  go  in  pursuit  of  the  savages, 
whose  trail  the  youth  had  discovered  not  far  from  the  place 
where  he  was  found.  Every  man  in  the  company  was  equally 
eager  for  an  affray  with  the  murderous  Indians,  and  a  systematic 
hunt  for  the  trail  was  soon  begun.  Towards  evening  of  the  same 
day  a  fresh  heap  of  ashes  was  found  near  the  river  shore,  and 
unmistakable  evidences  of  a  camp  having  been  made  at  the  spot 
not  more  than  twenty-four  hours  before.  This  was  regarded  as 
a  very  fortunate  discovery,  since  no  one  doubted  that  it  had  been 
the  camp  of  the  savages  and  that  they  were  making  no  effort  to 
hide  the  trail,  but  were  doubtless  still  in  the  vicinity.  Further 
on  the  party  found  the  half  of  a  broken  tray,  which  young  Lane 
recognized  as  one  that  his  mother  had  used  for  kneading  dough. 
They  were  now  unmistakably  on  the  trail,  that  led  northward 
and  which,  being  followed  two  miles  further,  revealed  another 
evidence  of  the  Indians'  march  in  the  finding  of  a  garter  that 

o  o 

had  belonged  to  Miss  Lane. 

It  was  now  sun-down  and  the  spies  resolved  to  go  into  camp, 
as  they  were  very  tired,  and  to  follow  further  at  night  might 


102  stem*  OF  tHE  WILD  WEST. 

bring  them  into  an  ambush,  for  it  was  evident  that  the   Indians 
were  not  far  in  advance. 

JtESCUE    OF    THE    GIRLS. 

Early  on  the  following  morning  the  pursuit  was  renewed  and 
was  continued  all  day  on  a  hot  trail,  until  darkness  again  com- 
pelled a  halt.  Wood  was  gathered  for  fire  and  everything  made 


AN  INCIDENT  OF  THE  BLOODY  YEAR  OF  '82. 

ready  for  camp,  but  before  the  match  was  applied  a  rifle  shot  was 
heard  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  and  on  the  bank 
of  the  river  which  the  party  had  been  following  down.  In  a 
wilderness  such  as  they  were  now  traversing  the  report  of  a  gun 
was  the  harbinger  of  danger,  and  the  spies  immediately  held  a 
council  to  decide  what  movement  should  be  made.  In  pursuance 
of  the  result  of  the  council's  hasty  deliberation,  Maj.  Ballard  and 
a  man  named  Basey  went  forward  to  reconnoiter,  and  after  an 
absence  of  an  hour  returned  and  reported  their  discovery  of  a 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL  BOONE.  103 

band  of  nearly  fifty  Indians  under  the  river  bank,  who  were  then 
making  camp,  but  had  not  yet  lighted  their  fire.  Every  man 
seemed  now  eager  to  engage  the  savages,  but  they  resolved  to 
wait  until  the  Indians  had  kindled  their  fire,  by  the  light  of  which 
the  attack  could  be  made  with  better  execution  ;  besides,  it  was 
important  to  first  know  if  the  white  girls  were  still  with  their 
captors,  and  also  their  position  in  the  camp,  lest  in  firing  upon 
the  Indians  the  girls  might  be  killed. 

The  spies,  well  prepared  for  making  the  attack,  advanced  towards 
the  Indians  after  another  hour  had  elapsed  and  found  them  seated 
aboiit  a  large  fire  holding  a  council.  At  the  same  time  the  two 
girls  were  discovered  seated  on  the  outskirts  of  the  camp  with 
their  hands  bound  together  and  their  feet  tied  to  a  tree,  and  in  a 
position  between  the  spies  and  the  savages,  which  would  expose 
them  if  the  attack  were  now  made.  It  therefore  became  nec- 
essary for  the  spies  to  move  further  down  and  closer  to  the  enemy, 
which  they  did  without  betraying  their  presence.  At  the  word 
of  Maj .  Ballard  the  spies  now  poured  a  volley  into  the  completely 
surprised  savages  with  such  deadly  effect  that  twelve  Indians  were 
instantly  killed  and  nearly  as  many  more  were  wounded.  The 
greatest  confusion  now  prevailed  among  the  Indians,  but  those 
not  injured  seized  their  guns  and  began  firing  in  the  direction 
from  whence  the  shots  first  came,  but  without  doing  any  damage, 
on  account  of  the  darkness  which  completely  concealed  the  spies. 
The  Indians  then  scattered  and  a  lively  but  random  fusilade  was 
kept  up  between  the  two  parties  for  a  few  minutes  until  the  sav- 
ages got  a  chance  to  break  through  the  lines  of  their  foes  and  es- 
caped, leaving  their  dead  and  wounded  on  the  ground.  With 
tomahawk  and  knife  the  latter  were  dispatched  with  as  little 
mersy  as  the  Indians  themselves  had  shown  in  massacring  the 
defenseless  people  on  the  flat-boat,  and  when  the  action  was  over 
twenty-one  dead  Indians  lay  in  promiscuous  heaps  about  the  bloody 
camp-fire  ;  but  sad  to  relate,  among  the  slaughtered  savages  was 
found  the  body  of  a  white  woman  who  had  not  been  seen  by  the 
spies  when  the  attack  was  made.  She  had  been  captured  by  the 
Indians  some  time  before  the  massacre  of  the  Lane's,  but  it  was 


LIFE    OF    DANIEL    BOONE.  105 

never  ascertained  where  or  under  what  circumstances,  as  she  had 
not  been  allowed  to  converse  with  the  two  girls.  It  was  sup- 
posed, however,  that  she  was  a  French  lady,  made  prisoner  at  the 
pillage  and  massacre  of  Heckerwelder,  a  Moravian  town  near  the 
Muskingum  river,  that  was  laid  waste  by  the  Pottawatamies  a 
month  before. 

THE  FIRST    MARRIAGE    IN    CINCINNATI. 

The  two  girls  were  so  transported  with  joy  at  their  deliverance 
that  for  a  time  they  were  hysterical,  and  fears  were  entertained 
that  they  had  become  insane ;  but  kind  treatment  restored  their 
reason  on  the  following  day,  though  they  were  never  able  to  give 
any  rational  account  of  the  indignities  they  had  been  subjected  to 
at  the  hands  of  their  captors.  They  were  conveyed  to  the  near- 
est post,  which  was  Fort  Washington  (now  Cincinnati),  and 
turned  over  to  the  care  of  Governor  St.  Clair  and  his  wife.  A 
happy  sequel  terminated  this  singular  and  bloody  adventure. 
Miss  Lucy  Smith  was  a  very  beautiful  girl  and  the  strange  man- 
ner and  romance  of  her  rescue,  added  to  the  attractions  of  her 
form  and  face,  won  the  love  of  Charles  Wilson,  one  of  the  spies. 
He  gave  her  every  possible  attention  on  the  route  to  Fort  Wash- 
ington and  on  the  day  of  their  arrival  at  the  post  he  made  an  offer 
of  marriage  to  Miss  Smith,  which  was  accepted.  Three  weeks 
afterwards  the  two  were  quietly  married  by  Gov.  St.  Clair,  being 
the  first  couple  joined  in  matrimony  within  the  limits  of  what  is 
now  Cincinnati. 

THE  CRAWFORD  EXPEDITION. 

The  whites  did  not  always  meet  with  such  success  as  that  which 
attended  the  pursuit  just  described  ;  in  fact,  during  the  whole  of 
1782  the  Indians  held  the  advantage,  and  gained  several  battles, 
one  of  which  was  quite  as  disastrous  to  the  whites  as  the  fight  at 
Blue  Licks.  From  every  post  came  news  of  invasions  and  mas- 
sacres; men  were  shot  down  in  the  fields,  women  and  children 
were  brained  in  their  cabins,  small  parties  were  captured,  and 
torture  was  inflicted  upon  not  a  few.  It  was,  indeed,  a  terribly 
bloody  year.  The  western  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania  and  Vir- 


106 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


ginia  were  not  exempt  from  these  outrages,  and  their  frequent 
perpetration  aroused  the  people  of  those  two  States  as  well  as 
those  of  Kentucky.  An  expedition,  consisting  of  four  hundred 
men,  was  planned  against  the  Wyandotte  Indians,  who  had  been 
scourging  Virginia  for  a  year  past.  The  command  of  this  force 
was  given  to  Colonel  William  Crawford,  who  set  out  through  the 
wilderness  northwest  of  the  Ohio  river  for  the  Wyandotte  towns 


CRAWFORD'S  FIGHT  WITH  THE  WYANDOTTES. 

on  the  Sandusky,  intending  to  beard  the  enemy  in  their  own  ter- 
ritory and,  if  possible",  to  devastate  their  lands  and  to  break  their 
power  for  evil. 

There  was,  unfortunately,  a  spirit  of  insubordination  mani- 
fested in  the  expedition  directly  after  it  was  organized,  that  re- 
sulted finally  in  the  desertion  of  fifty  men.  The  others  continued 
on,  however,  until  the  enemy's  country  was  reached,  but  at  no 
time  was  there  any  heroic  resolve  exhibited  by  the  force  to  en- 
gage the  Indians,  but  on  the  contrary  a  lukewarmness  that  con- 
stantly threatened  the  party  with  grave  danger. 

When  the  expedition  at  length,  after  a  tedious  march  and  num- 
erous complaints,  reached  the  Sandusky,  Colonel  Crawford  re- 


OF  DANIEL  BOONE.  107 

ceived  reports  from  his  scouts  that  the  Indians  were  in  force 
within  less  than  three  miles  distant  and  marching  to  meet  the 
whites,  whose  approach  had  evidently  been  discovered.  Imme- 
diate preparations  were  made  for  a  fight,  which  began  about 
three  o'clock  and  continued  briskly,  though  without  mate- 
rial results  to  either  side,  until  dark.  The  Indians  now 
drew  off  while  the  whites  held  the  ground  and  slept  on  their 
arms.  The  engagement  opened  early  the  following  morning,  but 
it  was  evident  from  the  maneuvering  of  the  enemy  that  they 
were  waiting  re-enforcements.  Colonel  Crawford  accordingly 
pushed  his  advantage,  with  the  hope  of  crushing  the  Indians  be- 
fore other  bodies  could  come  up,  but  he  was  not  able  to  accom- 
plish his  object,  the  savages  adopting  their  customary  tactics  of 
scattering  so  as  to  avoid  a  general  conflict. 

A  second  time  darkness  put  an  end  to  the  battle,  and  when 
firing  ceased  Crawford  held  a  council  with  his  men  to  decide  their 
action  on  the  morrow.  He  was  somewhat  surprised  to  learn 
that  the  universal  sentiment  was  in  a  favor  of  a  retreat,  though 
the  decision  was  in  accordance  with  his  own  opinion,  for  he  now 
saw  that  his  force  was  inadequate  f ^  meet  so  large  a  body  of  In- 
dians as  could  be  brought  against  ^-  ^  ;  and  that  too,  in  a  country 
which  was  a  perfect  wilderness,  unknown  to  any  in  his  command. 

A  DISASTROUS  RETREAT. 

It  having  been  resolved  to  retreat,  time  was  precious,  and  or- 
ders were  immediately  given  to  prepare  to  break  camp.  A  great 
bustlu  at  once  began,  and  no  little  confusion,  as  fear  seemed  to 
suddi  nly  take  possession  of  every  man.  By  nine  o'clock  the  re- 
treat commenced  which  was  so  far  from  being  orderly  that  the 
men  icted  like  startled  quails,  each  one  looking  to  his  own  safety, 
by  which  the  peril  of  all  was  vastly  increased.  The  noise 
caused  by  the  stampede  aroused  the  Indians  who,  appreciating 
the  situation,  charged  upon  the  discomfited  troops  that  were  now 
incapable  of  defense,  and  a  carnage  began  that  was  simply  terri- 
ble. Notwithstanding  the  darkness  scores  were  shot  down  or 
ton  ^hawked  while  others  were  taken  prisoners,  not  out  of  mer- 
cy \  at  to  be  reserved  for  a  worse  fate. 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL    BOOSE.  109 

Among  the  captives  taken  in  this  awful  rout  was  Colonel 
Crawford  himself,  who  was  knocked  down  and  bound  and  then 
taken  to  a  position  where  he  could  see,  though  imperfectly,  by 
reason  of  the  darkness,  the  slaughter  of  his  wounded  comrades. 

Only  a  few  of  the  original  three  hundred  and  fifty  volunteers 
who  went  into  the  battle  escaped.  On  the  following  morning  the 
scene  that  was  presented  was  sicking  in  the  extreme.  Not  yet  sat- 
isfied with  their  victory  the  Indians  went  among  the  slain  whites 
and  committed  such  indignities  upon  the  bodies  as  beggars  descrip- 
tion. Wherever  one  was  found  in  which  the  spark  of  life  still 
lingered  the  torch  of  torture  was  applied,  while  the  dead  were 
stripped  and  mutilated  until  they  resembled  a  vultures'  feast. 

Among  the  fiends  engaged  in  this  dread  sacrilege  the  captive 
Colonel  recognized  his  old  enemy,  the  border  Nemesis,  Simon 
Girty,  and  though  the  scenes  enacted  before  his  eyes  prefigured 
vvhat  his  own  fate  must  be,  he  now  knew  that  escape  from  a  more 
dreadful  death  than  he  had  yet  witnessed  was  impossible. 

THE    BURNING    OF    COLONEL    CRAWFORD. 

Preparation  for  the  holocaust  was  soon  begun.  A  large  fire 
was  built,  around  which  gathered  nearly  fifty  squaws,  each  pro- 
vided with  a  cudgel.  Colonel  Crawford  was  next  brought  within 
this  circle,  and  being  divested  of  all  his  clothes  his  body  was 
blackened  with  charcoal,  after  which  the  squaws  set  upon  him 
with  their  sticks  and  beat  him  into  insensibility.  While  this  tor- 
ture was  being  inflicted  several  other  Indians  were  engaged 
gathering  a  quantity  of  dry  brush  and  piling  it  in  a  circle  around 
a  tree  that  stood  within  sight  of  the  victim. 

The  sufferer  was  permitted  to  lie  for  a  time  unmolested,  and 
until  he  had  recovered  consciousness,  when  he  was  taken  and 
hound  to  the  tree  to  undergo  a  yet  more  terrible  ordeal.  Com- 
prehending the  horror  of  his  situation,  Crawford  appealed  to 
Girty  for  compassion,  but  his  supplications  were  of  no  more 
avail  than  the  bleat  of  a  lamb  in  the  jaws  of  a  wolf,  the  malignant 
renegade  giving  no  other  reply  than  a  mocking  laugh.  In  another 
moment  the  circle  of  brush  was  fired  and  amid  the  yells  of  the 


110 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 


savages,  to  drown  the  cries  of  the  victim,  the  sacrifice  was  be- 
gun.    The  small  mercy  of  applying  the  fire  directly  and  consum- 


THE    BURNING   OF    CKAWFORD. 

iug  his  body  was  denied  him,  the  circle  of  flame  being  just  large 
enough  to  blister  the  flesh,  in  which  position  he  was  kept  until 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  Ill 

his  body  was  roasted,  and  yet  life  remained.  Thus  was  his 
agony  protracted  for  nearly  an  hour,  and  until  he  became  uncon- 
scious, when  the  brands  were  kicked  under  him  and  heaped  up 
anew,  until  his  body  was  completely  consumed. 

The  torture  and  agonizing  death  suffered  by  Crawford  was 
witnessed  by  Dr.  Knight,  who  was  captured  at  the  same  time  with 
has  more  unfortunate  companion,  but  the  fates  were  more  merci- 
ful to  him.  Instead  of  submitting  him  to  the  stake  the  Indians 
carried  the  doctor  back  with  them  to  Chillicothe,  where  it  was 
proposed  to  burn  him,  in  which  resolution  they  were  foiled, 
however,  by  the  doctor  effecting  his  escape,  through  the  aid  of  a 
Shawanee  Indian  whom  he  had  cured  of  a  fever.  The  doctor 
afterwards  wrote  and  published  an  account  of  the  disasters  that 
overtook  the  expedition,  and  a  description  of  the  tortures  inflicted 
on  Colonel  Crawford,  from  which  the  facts,  as  given  above,  were 
obtained. 

It  Is  some  consolation  to  know  that  justice,  though  long  de- 
layed, finally  overtook  the  miscreant  through  whose  influence, 
there  is  no  doubt,  Crawford  was  brought  to  the  stake.  Girty 
continued  his  criminal  career  among  the  Indians  until  the  year 
1814,  when  he  was  with  Proctor  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  and 
there  met  his  doom  at  the  hands  of  the  Kentuckians,  who  were 
<ed  to  victory  by  the  gallant  Colonel  Johnson. 


112 


STORY    OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


CESSATION    OF   HOSTILITIES    AND   A   PERIOD    OF   PROSPERITY. 


ITH  the  close  of  1782 
there  came  a  period  of 
inviting  peace,  dearly 
purchased  and  therefore 
all  the  more  highly 
prized.  The  Kentuck- 
ians  had  fought  with  the 
pride  of  a  true  knight 
who  finds  honor  only  on 
a  bloody  field,  but  incessant  warfare  or  watchfulness,  with  almost 
daily  reports  of  outrage,  massacre  or  torture,  had  taught  them 
the  value  of  peace,  for  which  they  now  sincerely  longed. 

The  fortune  of  Kentucky  began  under  new  auspices  in  1783, 
when  hostilities  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
were  concluded.  A  fortunate  termination  of  the  war  gave  prom- 
ise of  a  speedy  cession  of  all  British  posts  on  the  northwestern 
frontier,  which  so  discouraged  the  Indians,  whose  powerful  allies 
were  thus  withdrawn  from  them,  that  they  ceased  their  incursions 
into  Kentucky  and  gave  the  settlers  opportunity  to  acquire  and 
cultivate  new  tracts  of  land. 

Up  to  this  time  Boone  had,  in  common  with  all  other  Ken- 
tuckians,  devoted  his  attention  to  devising  measures  of  defense 
and  giving  both  his  counsel  and  help  in  repelling  the  savage  in- 
vaders. A  period  of  quiet  having  now  come,  he  turned  his  ener- 
gies in  a  new  direction  and  became  an  excellent  example  to  his 
associate  pioneers.  For  his  services  as  an  officer  in  the  militia 
and  volunteer  forces,  as  well  as  for  other  and  special  aid  extended 
to  the  government  of  Virginia,  under  appointment  of  the  gov- 
ernor, he  was  paid  a  sum  equal  to  one  thousand  dollars,  which 


LIFE   OF    DANIEL   BOONE.  113 

he  »ised  in  making  purchases  of  several  desirable  bodies  of  land 
and  in  surveying  others  that  he  expected  to  acquire  later.  Upon 
one  of  these  locations  he  erected  a  substantial  log  house,  into 
•vhich  he  moved,  and  after  clearing  several  acres  began  farming 
in  a  primitive  way  common  to  the  times. 

It  was  in  1783  that  the  three  counties  organized  in  1780  were 
united  in  one  district,  with  the  establishment  of  a  court  of  com- 
mon law  for  the  whole  territory  that  now  constitutes  the  entire 
State.  Harrodsburg  was  at  first  selected  as  the  capital,  but  on 
account  of  its  inconvenient  situation,  the  seat  was  established  at 
Danville,  which  was  nearer  the  center  of  population.  This  ac- 
tion, which  was  equivalent  to  a  territorial  organization  and  the 
fore-runner  of  Statehood,  gave  an  immense  impetus  to  immigra- 
tion, that  soon  began  to  pour  into  Kentucky  from  Virginia  proper, 
North  Carolina  and  Pennsylvania.  Land  was  rapidly  taken  up 
by  new  settlers,  and  Boone  soon  found  his  hands  full  acting  as  a 
surveyor,  to  which  position  he  had  been  appointed  two  years 
before. 

BOONE    DISCOMFITS    FOUR   INDIANS. 

There  was  uninterrupted  prosperity  in  the  Kentucky  settle- 
ments until  1784,  when  a  few  bands  of  thieving  Indians  made 
incursions  into  the  territory  and  created  considerable  alarm, 
though  their  depredations  consisted  chiefly  in  running  off  stock, 
and  occasional  outrages  on  isolated  families.  During  this  period 
of  renewed  'alarms  a  curious  adventure  befell  Daniel  Boone, 
which  at  once  serves  to  illustrate  his  bravery  and  cunning: 
In  addition  to  a  considerable  field  planted  with  corn,  Boone  cul- 
tivated a  small  patch  of  tobacco,  not  for  his  own  use,  however, 
as  nearly  all  his  neighbors  did,  for  he  was  free  from  the  habit  of 
either  chewing  or  smoking  so  prevalent  among  early  settlers  and 
especially  hunters.  At  the  time  referred  to  Boone  had  gathered 
his  crop  and  housed  it  in  a  rude  kind  of  barn  for  curing.  This 
shelter  was  built  of  rails  raised  to  a  height  of  nearly  fifteen  feet 
and  covered  with  grass  which  was  twisted  and  wrought  into  a 
thatch.  In  the  curing  of  tobacco  the  stalks  are  split  and  strung 
on  sticks  some  four  feet  in  length .  The  ends  of  these  sticks  are 


114  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

laid  on  poles  that  extend  across  the  barn,  and  arranged  in  slanting 
tiers  parallel  with  the  sloping  roof.  Boone  was  engaged  in  dis- 
posing his  tobacco  in  this  manner,  and  in  shifting  the  lower  tier, 
which  dries  quicker  than  the  upper  ones.  While  thus  employed 
least  suspecting  any  danger,  and  therefore  not  prepared  for  re- 


BOLD    STRATAGEM    OF    BOONE. 

sistance,  four  Shawanees  Indians,  armed  with  guns,  entered  the 
low  door  of  the  shelter  and  drew  a  bead  upon  him,  at  the  same 
time  challenging  him  to  come  down,  that  his  fate  was  now  sealed. 
With  wonderful  self-possession  Boone  pleasantly  hailed  his  ene- 
mies with  assurances  that  he  was  glad  to  see  them,  and  that  he 
was  curing  some  tobacco  which  he  had  intended  for  their  use ;  he 
therefore  asked  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  change  the  tiers 

o  o 

which  would  require  but  a  short  while,  when  he  promised  to  will- 
ingly accompany  them  whither  they  had  a  mind  to  take  him. 
Their  advantage  being  so  great,  the  Indians  acceded  to  his  request, 
and  lowering  their  guns  stood  patiently  beneath  their  prisoner 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL   BOONE.  115 

until  the  adroit  Boone  had  collected  an  arrnful  of  the  very  driest 
tobacco,  with  which  he  jumped  down  upon  the  heads  of  his 
astounded  captors,  at  the  same  time  crushing  and  scattering  it  so 
that  the  pungent  dust  arose  in  a  cloud,  filling  the  eyes,  mouths 
and  noses  of  the  Indians,  and  so  discomfiting  them  that  he  easily 
contrived  to  run  out  of  the  shelter  and  gain  his  cabin.  The  sav- 
ages were  so  nearly  blinded  and  choked  by  the  tobacco  dust,  that 
it  was  several  minutes  before  they  were  able  to  find  their  way  out 
of  the  rude  barn,  and  now  expecting  to  be  in  turn  attacked  by 
Boone,  they  fled  to  the  woods  and  were  not  again  seen. 

ANOTHER  THREATENED  INVASION  BY  THE  INDIANS. 

During  the  year  1784  a  census  was  taken  of  the  people  within 
the  borders  of  Kentucky  proper  —  though  how  it  was  done,  if  at 
all,  is  not  recorded  —  which  showed  a  population  of  thirty  thou- 
sand whites.  A  store  had  been  opened  at  Louisville  by  Daniel 
Broadhead,  and  a  large  commercial  company,  with  James  Wil- 
kinson at  the  head,  was  planted  at  Lexington,  which  opened  a 
traffic  with  the  settlers  whereby  all  kinds  of  provisions  calculated 
to  increase  the  comforts  of  the  pioneers  were  exchanged  for  pel- 
tries, tobacco  and  corn,  which  latter  began  now  to  be  considera- 
bly cultivated. 

But  in  the  midst  of  the  fullest  promise  and  prosperity  that 
Kentucky  had  ever  expe'rienced  report  came  of  another  Indian  in- 
vasion. The  posts  of  the  Northwest  had  not  been  surrendered 
at  the  close  of  hostilities  with  Great  Britain,  contrary  to  general 
anticipation,  and  a  destruction  of  several  wigwams  in  upper  Ohio 
by  an  expedition  headed  by  General  Clark  again  aroused  the  In- 
dians, who  resolved  upon  wreaking  retribution  upon  the  Kentuck- 
ians,  who  chiefly  composed  the  expedition. 

The  alarm  which  this  report  occasioned  was  very  great  and  a 
meeting  was  immediately  called  at  Danville,  which  Boone  at- 
tended as  a  counselor,  to  consider  measures  for  the  public  de- 
fense. It  fortunately  transpired  that  the  Indians  were  deterred 
from  their  purpose  by  some  reverses  in  minor  engagements  with 
bands  of  militia  sent  out  to  intercept  them,  and  the  threatened  in- 
vasion was  happily  averted.  But  the  need  of  organizing  a  mill- 


116 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


tary  force  for  defense  in  any  emergency  was  recognized  as  being 
still  imperative,  and  in  pursuance  of  this  general  opinion  a  con- 
vention of  settlers  met  at  Danville,  December  27th.  At  this  as- 
sembling the  belief  was  expressed  that  Kentucky  ought  to  seek  a 
severance  from  Virginia  which,  considering  the  extent  of  terri- 
tory, was  unable  to  afford  protection,  and  that  in  such  a  division 


INDIANS    KILLING   AND    RUNNING   OFF    STOCK. 

only  could  Kentucky  find  security,  by  a  reliance  upon  her  own 
resources. 

Though  there  was  great  unanimity  among  the  settlers  upon 
the  question  of  separating  from  Virginia,  no  decisive  action  was 
taken  ;  several  other  conventions  were  held  in  the  following  year, 
at  which  the  same  question  was  debated  affirmatively,  and  the  agi- 
tation was  so  persistent  that  in  1786  the  legislature  of  Virginia 
passed  a  bill  providing  for  the  separation  of  Kentucky  and  its 
erection  into  a  separate  State,  when  it  should  possess  the  required 
population,  but  it  was  not  until  1792  that  it  was  finally  adopted 
into  the  Union. 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE. 


117 


TROUBLE  WITH  THE  INDIANS  RENEWED. 

Though  the  threatened  invasion  of  1786  was  not  made  in  force, 
yet  several  roving  bands  of  Indians  crossed  into  Kentucky  from 
the  Indian  territory  of  Ohio  and  committed  many  depredations, 
principally  in  stealing  stock.  In  April  of  that  year  a  party  of  a 
dozen  made  a  raid  on  the  Bear  Grass  settlement  and  succeeded 
in  getting  away  with  seven  horses  belonging  to  the  settlers. 

Colonel  Christian,  who  was  one  of  the  sufferers,  called  togeth- 
er a  score  of  his  neighbors  as  hastily  as  possible  and  went  in  pur- 


W 

W/M 
DEATH   OF    COL.    CHRISTIAN. 

suit.  The  Indians  were  overtaken  shortly  after  they  had  crossed 
the  Ohio  and  so  completely  surprised  that  every  one  was  de- 
stroyed, but  not  until  two  or  three  of  them  returned  the  fire,  by 
which  Colonel  Christian  and  one  of  his  followers  were  killed. 
His  loss  was  severely  felt  by  the  Kentuckians,  who  held  him  ID 
great  favor  for  his  bravery,  good  judgment,  and  excellent  citi- 
zenship. 

Following  on  the  affair  just  described  came  an  attack  on  Hig- 
gin's  fort  which  was  a  stockade  protecting  six  or  seven  cabins, 


118  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

built  en  the  bank  of  the  Licking  river.  There  were  perhaps 
twenty  Indians  in  the  attacking  party,  but  after  tiring  a  single 
volley  they  retired,  but  only  as  a  ruse  to  draw  the  settlers  out  of 
their  defenses.  Those  within  the  stockade  were  too  well  versed 
in  Indian  tactics  to  be  thus  deceived,  and  instead  of  'sallying  out 
began  to  prepare  for  a  siege.  Perceiving  that  their  plans  were  of 
no  avail  the  Indians  made  a  descent  on  the  cabin  of  William  Mc- 
Combs  which  occupied  a  site  on  the  river  bank  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  below  the  fort.  The  old  gentleman  was  not  at  home  at  the 
time,  but  his  son  Andrew  and  a  hired  man  named  Joseph  Mc- 
Fall,  besides  the  female  members  of  the  family,  were  in  the  cabin, 
having  just  risen,  it  being  so  early  in  the  morning  as  to  be  hardly 
daylight.  The  two  men  were  first  apprised  of  their  danger  when 
upon  coming  outside  to  wash  themselves  they  were  both  shot 
down,  McCombs  receiving  a  bullet  in  the  knee  and  McFall  one 
in  the  pit  of  the  stomach.  The  former  was  dragged  back  into 
the  cabin  by  his  sisters,  but  though  desperately  wounded  McFall 
regained  his  feet  and  ran  with  great  speed  toward  the  stockade 
which  he  gained  without  further  injury,  though  what  he  had  re- 
ceived was  sufficient  for  he  died  on  the  following  day.  Ten  men 
within  the  stockade,  learning  of  the  peril  of  the  McComb  fam- 
ily, mounted  their  horses  and  with  ready  rifles  went  to  the  relief. 
The  Indians  seeing  advancing  horsemen,  and  not  being  able  to 
discover  the  number,  broke  and  fled,  not  even  taking  time  to  de- 
liver a  single  volley. 

In  October  following  a  number  of  emigrant  families  from 
Pennsylvania  were  surprised  in  camp,  by  a  band  of  Indians  OD 
Little  Laurel  river,  and  twenty-one  persons,  including  men, 
women  and  children,  were  massacred,  and  ten  others  were  taken 
captive,  but  what  fate  ultimately  befell  them  was  never  known 
by  their  friends. 

Two  months  later  Colonel  Hargrave,  with  a  party  of  thirty 
spies  were  attacked  at  night  at  the  mouth  of  Buck  creek,  on  the 
Cumberland  river  and  routed,  but  with  the  loss  of  only  a  single 
man.  Hargrave  was  himself  wounded  and  became  engaged  in  a 
hand-to-hand  encounter  with  one  of  the  savages.  The  fight  lasted 


LIFE   OP  DANIEL   BOONE. 


119 


only  for  a  moment  when  Hargrave  wrested  the  Indian's  toma- 
hawk from  his  grasp  and  would  have  brained  him  had  not  the 
savage  foe  retreated  at  an  opportune  moment.  The  Indians 
were  so  cowardly  that  they  refused  to  follow  up  the  advantage, 


ATTACK  ON  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  EMIGRANTS. 


but  drew  off  after  discharging  their  guns  and  throwing  the  camj* 
into  disorder. 

A   HORRIBLE    STORY    OF   MASSACRE. 

The  year  1787  began  less  auspiciously  than  any  preceding 
period,  for  the  Indians  were  increasing  in  number  in  Kentucky, 
and  their  outrages  were  constantly  more  daring  and  numerous, 
until  the  entire  territory  was  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement  and 
alarm. 

Early  in  April  the  house  of  a  widow  named  Rankin,  in  Bour- 
bon county,  became  the  scene  of  a  desperate  adventure.  The 
house  was  a  double  cabin  one  end  of  which  was  occupied  by  the 
old  lady,  two  grown  sons,  and  a  married  daughter,  who  had  an 
infant.  The  other  end  of  the  dwelling  was  a  sleeping  room  for 


120  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  wfcsf . 

three  daughters  aged,  respectively,  eighteen,  fifteen  and  ten 
years. 

On  the  night  in  question,  about  eleven  o'clock,  when  all  of  the 
family  was  in  bed  with  the  exception  of  the  elder  girl,  who  was 
engaged  at  the  loom,  and  her  older  brother,  some  singular  noises 
were  heard  that  put  them  immediately  in  a  state  of  grave  anxiety. 
A  frequent  hooting,  in  imitation  of  owls,  was  heard  in  the 
neighboring  wood,  and  as  this  was  known  to  be  a  common  signal 
among  Indians,  a  suspicion  was  at  once  excited  that  enemies  were 
about. 

Soon  afterwards  a  step  was  heard  in  the  yard,  followed  quickly 
by  a  knock  on  the  door  of  the  cabin  occupied  by  the  widow  and 
two  sons  and  a  voice  that  asked  in  good  English,  "  Who  keeps 
house ?"  The  young  man,  who  had  first  heard  the  unusual 
noises  was  deceived  by  the  inquiry,  believing  that  some  belated 
traveler  was  without  who  sought  shelter.  He  was  accordingly 
upon  the  point  of  opening  the  door  when  his  mother  sprang  out 
of  bed  and  arrested  his  hand,  declaring  at  the  same  time  that  it 
was  Indians  who  desired  admittance. 

The  mother  quickly  awakened  the  other  son,  and  the  two  young 
men  seized  their  guns  and  prepared  to  receive  the  enemy  with  be- 
coming  heroism.  The  Indians,  finding  that  they  could  not  deceive 
the  family,  began  to  batter  the  door  with  the  butts  of  their  rifles, 
when  a  shot  from  a  loophole  admonished  them  to  seek  a  less  ex- 
posed point  from  which  to  make  the  attack,  and  in  making  a  cir- 
cuit of  the  dwelling  they  unfortunately  discovered  the  door  of  the 
other  cabin  which  sheltered  the  three  daughters.  The  brothers 
could  not  defend  this  point  without  exposing  their  persons,  and 
the  Indians  were  thus  secure  in  perpetrating  their  fiendish  atrocities 
on  the  defenseless  girls.  With  rails  they  quickly  broke  the  door 
from  its  hinges,  and  rushing  in,  grabbed  one  of  the  daughters,  but 
the  eldest  defended  herself  with  a  knife,  which  she  used  to  cut 
the  thread  of  her  loom,  and  stabbed  one  of  the  villains  to  the 
heart  before  her  brains  were  dashed  out  with  a  tomahawk. 

In  the  meantime  the  little  girl,  who  had  been  overlooked  by  the 
enemy  in  their  eagerness  to  secure  the  others,  ran  out  into  the 


OF  i>ANlEL  BOONfi. 


141 


yard,  and  might  have  effected  her  escape,  had  she  taken  advan- 
tage of  the  darkness  and  fled;  but  instead  of  that,  the  terrified 
little  creature  ran  around  the  house  wringing  her  hands,  and  cry- 
ing out  that  her  sisters  were  killed.  The  brothers,  unable  to  hear 
her  cries  without  risking  everything  for  her  rescue,  rushed  to  the 
door  and  were  preparing  to  sally  out  to  her  assistance,  when  their 
mother  threw  herself  before  them  and  calmly  declared  that  the  child 
must  be  abandoned  to  its  fate ;  that  the  sally  would  sacrifice  the 
lives  of  all  the  rest,  without  the  slightest  benefit  to  the  fated  child. 
Just  then  the  little  girl  uttered  a  loud  scream,  followed  by  a  few 


ATTACK    ON   THE    CABIN. 

faint  moans,  and  all  was  again  silent.  Presently  the  crackling 
of  flames  was  heard,  accompanied  by  a  triumphant  yell  from  the 
Indians,  announcing  that  they  had  set  fire  to  that  division  of  the 
house  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  daughters,  and  of  which 
they  held  undisputed  possession. 

The  fire  was  quickly  communicated  to  the  rest  of  the  building,  and 
it  became  necessary  to  abandon  it  or  perish  in  the  flames.  In  the 
one  case  there  was  a  possibility  that  one  more  of  the  family 
anight  escape  ;  in  the  other  their  fate  would  be  equally  certain  and 
terrible .  The  rapid  approach  of  the  flames  cut  short  their  momen' 
tary  suspense.  The  door  was  thrown  open,  and  the  old  lady, 


112 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  123 

supported  by  her  eldest  son,  attempted  to  cross  the  fence  at  one 
point  while  her  daughter,  carrying  her  child  in  her  arms,  and 
attended  by  the  younger  of  the  brothers,  ran  in  a  different 
direction.  The  blazing  roof  shed  a  light  over  the  yard  but  little 
inferior  to  that  of  day,  and  the  savages  were  distinctly  seen  await- 
ing the  approach  of  their  victims.  The  old  lady  was  permitted 
to  reach  the  stile  unmolested,  but  in  the  act  of  crossing  received 
several  balls  in  her  breast  and  fell  dead.  Her  son,  provi- 
dentially, remained  unhurt,  and  by  extraordinary  agility  effected 
his  escape. 

The  daughter  and  son  succeeded  also  in  reaching  the  fence 
unhurt,  but  here  they  were  vigorously  assailed  by  several  Indians, 
who,  throwing  down  their  guns,  rushed  upon  the  two  with  their 
tomahawks.  The  young  man  defended  his  sister  gallantly,  firing 
upon  the  enemy  as  they  approached,  and  then  wielding  the  butt 
of  his  rifle  with  a  fury  that  drew  their  whole  attention  upon  him- 
self, and  gave  his  sister  an  opportunity  of  effecting  her  escape. 
He  soon  fell,  however,  under  the  tomahawks  of  his  enemies,  and 
was  found  at  daylight  scalped  and  mutilated  in  a  shocking  manner. 
Of  the  entire  family,  consisting  of  eight  persons  at  the  time  of  the 
attack,  only  three  escaped.  Four  were  killed  upon  the  spot,  and 
the  second  daughter  was  carried  off  a  prisoner,  but  only  to  soon 
meet  a  fate  as  horrible  as  that  which  befell  her  gallant  brother. 

KILLING   OF   THE    CAPTIVE    GIRL. 

News  of  the  dreadful  massacre  spread  with  such  rapidity 
through  the  neighborhood  that  before  noon  a  party  of  thirty 
brave  men  had  gathered  together  and,  under  the  leadership  of 
Captain  Edwards,  set  out  in  pursuit.  A  light  snow  had  fallen 
during  the  night  which  made  the  Indian  trail  so  plain  that  it  could 
be  followed  at  a  swift  gallop.  It  led  directly  into  the  mountains 
bordering  the  Licking,  and  showed  great  haste  on  the  part  of  the 
fugitives,  but  it  was  manifest  that  they  could  not  travel  so  rapidly 
as  the  well-mounted  pursuers,  who  were  burdened  with  no  bag- 
gage and  had  perfectly  fresh  horses. 

Unfortunately,  a  hound  had  been  permitted  to  accompany  the 
whites,  and  as  the  trail  became  fresher  the  dog  naturally  enough 


124  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

gave  voice  and  rushed  on  ahead,  until  the  Indians  were  apprised, 
by  the  loud  baying,  of  the  proximity  of  the  pursuing  party. 
The  enemy  thus  finding  themselves  so  nearly  overtaken  and  the 
strength  of  their  prisoner  failing,  to  relieve  themselves  of  the 
burden,  they  sank  a  tomahawk  into  the  poor  girl's  head  and  left 
her  dying  upon  the  snow. 

When  the  whites  came  up  they  found  the  girl  gasping,  but  she 
had  not  yet  lost  consciousness  ;  the  brother,  who  had  joined  in 
the  pursuit,  leaped  from  his  horse  and  took  her  outstretched  hand 
in  his,  but  in  another  moment  she  was  dead.  He  remained  be- 
side her  body,  however,  while  his  comrades  pushed  on  in  rapid 
pursuit  until  within  another  hour  they  had  run  the  Indians  to 
cover,  and  a  desultory  fight  began.  The  enemy  masked  their 
movements  so  thoroughly  that  the  main  body  made  good  their 
escape  by  leaving  two  of  their  number  to  cover  the  retreat. 
These  two  kept  up  their  fire  and  succeeded  in  completely  deceiv- 
ing the  whites,  who  believed  the  whole  force  was  still  engaged, 
while  in  fact  they  had  drawn  off  and  were  then  in  the  fastnesses 
of  the  mountain  and  scattered,  so  that  the  trail  could  not  be  fol- 
lowed. The  two  Indians  who  had  thus  apparently  offered  them- 
selves as  a  sacrifice  to  secure  the  safety  of  their  comrades,  were 
killed,  but  no  other  casualties  attended  the  fight. 

Finding  that  the  enemy  had  escaped  them,  the  parly  of  whites 
returned  to  the  spot  where  Miss  Rankin  had  been  murdered  and 
carried  the  body  back  to  the  ruins  of  the  cabin.  The  other 
bodies  were  then  recovered  and  all  were  buried  in  one  grave,  at 
which  a  headboard  was  erected  on  which  was  briefly  inscribed  a 
record  of  the  terrible  massacre. 

CAPTURE    OF    SIMON   KENTON   AND    HIS   PUNISHMENT. 

The  settlements  throughout  Kentucky  were  thrown  into  the 
greatest  disorder  by  the  harrowing  outrages  that  continued  to  be 
-reported,  and  several  measures  were  proposed  to  repel  the  in- 
vaders, but  there  was  lacking  a  unanimity  of  action  which  gave 
little  hope  of  security  from  the  Indians.  At  length,  Boone  sent 
Simon  Kenton  out  at  the  head  of  fifty  men  to  patrol  the  settle- 
ments and  to  act  as  a  band  of  succor  to  those  residing  within  the 


126  .  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

district  that  was  suffering  most.  This  distinguished  leader  was 
not  long  in  finding  the  savages,  but  his  gallantry  was  ill  requited, 
for  in  his  first  encounter  with  the  enemy  his  comrades  deserted 
him  at  the  sight  of  a  force  of  nearly  two  hundred  Indians,  but 
which  Kenton  did  not  hesitate  to  attack.  The  result  was  disas- 
trous, for  Kenton  was  made  prisoner  while  fighting  against  an 
overwhelming  number  and  was  carried  away  to  Chillicothe  to 
undergo  a  torture  like  that  to  which  other  brave  but  unfortunate 
pioneers  had  been  subjected. 

Directly  upon  arriving  at  Chillicothe  the  Indians  assembled  on 
a  common  in  the  suburbs  of  their  village,  and  here  stripping  Ken- 
ton,  they  formed  a  double  line  and  compelled  him  to  run  the 
gauntlet.  Each  Indian  in  the  two  lines  was  armed  with  a  stout 
cudgel,  and  as  the  prisoner  ran  down  between  them  they  show- 
ered blows  upon  his  bared  back  which  must  have  killed  an  or- 
dinary man,  but  his  endurance  was  so  great  that  he  passed 
through  the  ordeal  without  serious  injury.  In  some  accounts  of 
this  event  it  is  reported  that  Kenton  conducted  himself  with  such 
an  exhibition  of  nerve  and  bravery  that  the  Indians  permitted 
him  to  walk  down  their  two  files  without  administering  a  single 
blow  ;  but  whichever  version  of  the  incident  be  true,  it  is  certain 
that  he  was  subjected  to  a  yet  more  terrible  trial. 

When  the  amusement  of  having  Kenton  run  the  gauntlet  was 
concluded  the  Indians  prepared  to  burn  him  at  the  stake.  Brush- 
wood was  gathered  and  piled  in  heaps  about  a  tree  to  which  it 
was  intended  to  bind  the  prisoner  for  the  sacrifice.  When  these 
preparations  were  completed  Kenton  was  led  forth,  still  bound, 
but  before  the  fire  was  lighted  he  recognized  among  his  captors 
the  grizzly  form  and  face  of  the  wolfish  Girty,  whom  he  had 
known  intimately  in  earlier  years,  before  the  renegade  had  been 
adopted  into  the  brotherhood  of  savages. 

To  this  scourge  and  disgrace  of  his  race  Kenton  now  made  an 
appeal  which,  singularly  enough,  was  not  without  avail,  to  the 
surprise  of  even  Kenton  himself.  Until  now  Girty  had  not  rec- 
ognized in  the  troubled  features  of  the  prisoner  the  face  of  his  old 
comrade  with  whom  he  had  often  hunted  in  their  native  haunta 


LIFE    OF    DANIEL    BOONE. 


127 


of   Virginia  and   who  had  been  the  associate  of  his  boyhood. 
However,  the  recognition  being  now  complete,  Girty  immediately 


KENTON    PASSING    THE    GAUNTLET. 

became  the  champion  of  his  friend,  and  pleaded  for  his  life  with 
all  the  power  <md  influence  that  he  could  command.  While  Girty 
had  aever  acted  us  a  ciref  umonji  the  Indians,  he  was  held  iu 


128  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST, 

such  great  esteem  by  them  that  his  counsel  had  almost  the  weight 
of  the  most  important  men  of  the  several  tribes,  and  in  special 
instances  he  had  exercised  a  complete  control,  amounting  to  vir- 
tual supremacy.  The  fullest  power  of  his  influence  was  now  ex- 
erted on  behalf  of  Kenton,  and  with  such  effect  that  the  Indians 
abandoned  their  intention  of  burning  him,  but  could  not  be  in 
duced  to  liberate  him  without  some  further  punishment. 

A   MAZEPPA   RIDE. 

After  debating  for  a  while  among  themselves,  from  which 
counsel  Girty  himself  was  excluded,  the  Indians  decided  to  submit 
Kenton,  bound  and  helpless,  to  the  back  of  a  fiery  horse  and  trust 
the  result  to  fortune.  It  was  a  novel  mode  of  punishment,  and 
promised  to  the  savages  an  enjoyment  greater  than  even  the 
gauntlet  or  the  stake  afforded.  Accordingly  a  very  wild,  and  as 
yet  unbroken,  horse  was  brought  out  and  held  by  a  dozen  Indians 
while  Kenton,  whose  back  still  remained  stripped  of  clothing^ 
was  placed  astride  the  struggling  animal  and  his  feet  tied  fast 
under  its  belly.  At  a  word  the  horse  was  now  liberated  and  with 
several  severe  lashes  from  those  who  stood  near,  to  make  him 
start  the  more  suddenly,  the  animal  bounded  off  and  through  the 
woods  at  a  wonderful  speed,  followed  by  a  dozen  mounted  sav- 
ages anxious  to  enjoy  the  sport  as  long  as  possible.  The  horse 
ran  in  a  direct  line  for  nearly  a  dozen  miles,  over  hills,  through 
valleys,  across  brooks,  down  declivities  and  into  thick  primeval 
forests  until  at  last  his  strength  was  spent  and  he  stopped  from 
sheer  exhaustion.  The  Indians,  who  had  at  first  followed  the 
mad  steed,  were  soon  left  behind  in  the  race,  for  they  were  un- 
willing to  stake  such  desperate  chances,  at  a  break-neck  speed, 
as  would  be  necessary  to  keep  up  with  the  scared  animal,  that 
had  been  thus  strangely  released  of  all  restraint. 

For  two  days  the  horse  wandered  about  the  broken  country, 
somewhat  reconciled  to  the  helpless  rider,  who  maintained  his 
seat  despite  all  efforts  to  throw  him  off,  and  notwithstanding  the 
suffering  he  endured  from  branches  striking  him  in  the  face,  and 
the  pain  caused  by  the  cords  with  which  he  was  bound.  At 
length  thehorse,  in  grazing  about,  strayed  back  to  the  place  fro&\ 


130  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

which  he  was  started  and  the  Indians,  through  Girty's  influence, 
now  had  such  compassion  upon  the  bleeding  and  almost  uncon- 
scious rider  that  they  released  him,  and  a  few  days  afterwards 
permitted  him  to  return  to  Kentucky  and  his  friends. 

This  wonderful  ride  of  Kenton's  will  constitute  forever  one 
of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  the  annals  of  Kentucky,  but 
it  is  not  alone  celebrated  in  the  history  of  the  pioneers,  for  the 
tale  has  been  immortalized  by  one  of  the  world's  greatest  poets, 
Byron,  whose  story  of  Mazeppa,  it  is  claimed,  was  inspired  by 
the  incident.  In  his  advertisement  of  the  story,  Byron  quotes 
from  Voltaire's  History  of  Charles  XII.  (of  Sweden)  in  which 
he  gives  the  idea  that  the  facts  for  his  verse  were  taken  from  an 
incident  that  transpired  during  the  war  between  Russia  and  Swe- 
den ;  but  there  is  better  evidence  for  believing  that  the  poem  was 
prompted  by  Kenton's  ride,  based  chiefly  on  the  knowledge  that 
Byron  delighted  in  reading  tales  of  adventure  between  the  Indians 
and  white  men  and  used  many  such  incidents  in  his  verse,  his 
poem  on  Daniel  Boone  being  particularly  favorable  to  the  argu- 
ment. ' 

A  TREATY  OF  PEACE   THAT  BROUGHT  NO  SECURITY. 

The  harsh  experience  through  which  Kentcn  had  passed  instead 
of  abating  his  fighting  ardor  aroused  him  the  mere  and  thence- 
forth for  several  years  he  hunted  Indians  as  he  would  hunt  game, 
and  scores  fell  before  his  rifle.  He  became,  therefore,  to  the  In- 
dians, and  particularly  to  the  Wyandcttes,  who  had  subjected 
him  to  such  hard  punishment,  what  Girty  was  tc  the  whites,  a 
cunning,  dangerous  and  implacable  foe,  seeking  an  extermination 
of  his  enemies. 

A  desultory  warfare  was  carried  en,  ia  which  defenseless  fanv 
ilies  were  the  chief  sufferers,  until  1789,  when  a  conference  was 
held  with  a  majority  of  the  northwestern  tribes  at  one  of  thek 
villages  on  the  Muskingum,  which  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  & 
treaty  of  peace,  and  on  such  favorable  terms  and  with  such  as- 
surances of  public  security  that  the  settlers  entertained  hopes 
that  their  troubles  with  the  Indians  were  at  an  end. 


LIFE    OF    DANIEL    BOONE. 


131 


The  Shawanese  tribe  had  refused,  or  neglected,  to  attend  the 
conference,  but  though  they  had  committed  more  outrages  than 
any  other  of  the  confederated  tribes,  their  numbers  were  compar- 
atively small  and  it  was  therefore  believed  that  they  would  cease 
their  depredations  with  the  others.  In  this  opinion,  however, 
the  settlers  were  deceived,  for  the  Shawanese  continued  to  in- 
fest the  settlements  and  to  pillage,  outrage  and  massacre  where- 


A   SAMPLE    OF    SHAWANESE    ATROCITY. 

ever  they  could  find  unprotected  cabins,  or  opportunity  to  exercise 
their  fiendish  propensities.  The  whites  were  therefore  aroused  to 
action  and  as  it  was  difficult  for  them  to  distinguish  between  hos- 
tile and  friendly  Indians,  in  their  determination  to  avenge  injur- 
ies they  soon  became  involved  with  the  tribes  that  had  subscribed 
to  the  trea'y.  Thus  the  old  trouble  broke  out  afresh  and  with 
great  virulence,  and  during  the  next  two  years  it  is  said  that 
nearly  fifteen  hundred  white  people  were  killed  on  Kentucky 
soil.  It  was  a  dreary  and  horrible  repetition  01  every  species  of 


132  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST, 

vandalism,  reported  nearly  every  day,  until  1794,  when  the  In 
dians  were  finally  subjugated  by  Wayne's  decisive  victory.     A 
treaty  was  soon  afterwards  signed  at  Greenville,  and  peace  was 
restored,  the  first  substantial  fruits  reaped  by  Kentucky  in  the 
efforts  of  pioneers  to  reclaim  her  territory  to  civilization. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE   LAST   DAYS    OF    BOONE. 

URING  the  long  period  of  a  continuous 
and  bloody  struggle,  through  which 
Kentucky  passed,  until  the  Indian 
power  for  evil  was  broken  in  1794, 
Boone  conducted  himself  as  a  true 
hero,  but  with  genuine  regret  must  it 
be  said  that  a  record  of  his  services 
after  1784  is  entirely  wanting.  In  this  year  he  related  some  of 
the  more  important  incidents  of  his  life  to  a  young  man  named 
John  Folsom,  who  wrote  and  published  a  brief  account  of  the 
great  hunter,  but  which  makes  no  mention  of  any  act  of  his  life 
subsequent  to  1794.  Even  this  account,  which  professes  to  have 
been  written  at  the  dictation  of  Boone,  contains  many  erroneous 
statements,  manifest  even  to  the  casual  reader.  Why  they  were 
suffered  to  remain  uncorrected  we  are  not  permitted  to  knew. 

Occasional  references  to  Boone,  in  the  history  of  the  common- 
wealth, afford  us  a  mere  indication  of  the  part  he  played  and  the 
influence  he  exerted  in  the  campaigns  against  the  Indians.  These 
brief  references  have  justified  the  descriptions  of  incidents  which 
appear  foreign  to  the  subject  of  Boone' s  biography;  their  im- 
portance and  connection  with  the  life  of  our  hero  will  be  seen  in 
the  necessity  for  showing  the  progress  of  settlement  in  Kentucky, 
and  the  probable  part  he  continued  to  play,  in  which  the  record 
>s  wanting. 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  133 

From  contemporaneous  pioneers,  more  careful  to  preserve  to 
history  the  incidents  of  their  lives  and  of  their  prominent  asso- 
ciates, are  we  indebted  for  what  we  know  of  Boone  after  1794 
and  until  his  death,  the  latter  years  of  his  life  being  particularly 
described  by  several  writers  who  visited  him,  and  by  his  neigh- 
bors. 

As  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  Boone  invested  the  money 
which  he  received  from  the  State  of  Virginia  for  services  ren- 
dered the  State  in  acquiring  lands,  large  bodies  of  which  he 
owned  at  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  1794,  considerable  tracts 
being  brought  under  cultivation,  while  he  held  others  for  invest- 
ment. But  a  series  of  misfortunes  now  overtook  him,  by  which 
the  accumulations  of  years  were  ultimately  entirely  swept  away. 

BOONE    IS    IMPOVERISHED    AND    REMOVES    FROM   KENTUCKY. 

In  1792  Kentucky  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  As 
courts  of  justice  were  established  in  every  community,  litigation 
increased,  and  was  carried  to  a  distressing  extent.  Many  of  the 
old  pioneers,  who  had  cleared  farms  in  the  midst  of  the  wilder- 
ness, and  were  prepared  to  spend  the  remainder  of  their  days 
surrounded  by  peace  and  plenty,  had  their  homes  wrested  from 
them,  through  lack  of  legal  titles,  by  greedy  and  avaricious  spec- 
ulators, and  were  cast  adrift  in  their  old  age,  to  again  fight  the 
battle  of  existence.  Colonel  Boone  was  among  the  sufferers. 

o 

Every  foot  of  his  land  was  taken  from  him,  and  he  was  left  pen- 
niless. His  recorded  descriptions  of  location  and  boundary  were 
defective,  and  shrewd  speculators  had  the  adroitness  to  secure 
legal  titles  by  more  accurate  and  better  defined  entries. 

Disgusted  and  heart-sick  over  the  difficulties  that  beset  him, 
he  removed  to  Point  Pleasant,  in  the  Kenawha  valley  in  Virginia, 
where  he  remained  only  a  short  time,  when  he  decided  to  once 
more  seek  a  home  in  the  western  wilderness,  in  some  place  where 
he  might  hope  to  live  free  from  oppressions  such  as  the  law,  or 
ignorance  of  it,  sometimes  impose.  In  1792,  his  son,  Daniel 
M.,  had  removed  from  Boonesborough  and  settled  in  Missouri, 
which  was  then  called  Upper  Louisiana.  The  letters  which  he 
sent  back  to  his  father  were  filled  with  praises  for  the  new  coun- 


134 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 


try ;  its  soil  was  alluvial  and  rich  beyond  any  that  could  be  found 
in  the  east,  the  game  was  so  plentiful  as  to  furnish  a  variety  of 
meats  for  a  king's  table,  deer,  buffalo,  bear,  turkey,  chickens, 
quail,  etc.,  in  picturesque  profusion,  while  the  climate  was  like 
that  of  paradise.  These  descriptions  fascinated  Boone,  and  he 
resolved  to  seek  this  new  and  marvelous  country  which  promised 
so  much  in  exchange  for  the  sufferings  and  privations  he  was 

the  same  time  that  he  had  formed  this 


then  enduring. 


o 

About 


ON    THE    HAPPY    HUNTING    GROUNDS    OF    MISSOURI. 

resolution,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  lieutenant-governor  of 
Upper  Louisiana,  Zenon  Trudeau,  inviting  him  to  make  his  home 
in  the  territory  and  offering  him,  as  an  inducement,  the  grant  of 
a  large  tract  of  land. 

Boone  was  greatly  affected  by  this  generous  offer,  which 
proved  a  balm  to  the  indignities  and  wrongs  he  had  suffered  in 
Kentucky,  and  in  the  spring  of  1795,  he  gathered  up  his  few 
possessions,  which  he  put  upon  the  backs  of  three  pack-horses, 
and  started  on  his  long  journey  for  the  home  of  the  son  who  had 
preceded  him. 

A  part  of  his  family  was  left  behind,  his  two  daughters,  La- 
vinia  and  Rebecca,  having  married  in  Kentucky,  remained  there 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  BOONE. 


135 


until  their  death,  while  Jesse  settled  down  on  a  farm  in  the 
Kenawha  valley,  married,  and  continued  farming  on  his  original 
homestead  until  1819,  when  he,  too,  removed  to  Missouri. 


ACQUIRING     LAND     FROM 


THE      SPANISH 
TROUBLES. 


GOVERNMENT     AND     HIS 


For  several  years  after  Colonel  Boone's  removal,  Upper  Louisi- 
ana remained  under  Spanish  rule,  and  the  promise  of  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor was  faithfully  fulfilled.  On  the  24th  of  January 


INDIANS    IN    MOCK    COMBAT. 

1798,  he  received  a  concession  of  1,000  arpents  of  land,  situated 
in  Femme  Osage  district.  He  afterward  made  an  agreement 
with  the  Spanish  authorities  to  bring  one  hundred  families  from 
Kentucky  and  Virginia  to  Upper  Louisiana,  for  which  he  was  to 
receive  10,000  arpents  of  land.  The  agreement  was  fulfilled  on 
both  sides ;  but  in  order  to  confirm  his  title  to  this  grant  it  was 
necessary  to  obtain  the  signature  of  the  direct  representative  of 


136  STORY  ov  THE  WILD  WEST. 

the  crown,  who  resided  in  New  Orleans.  Colonel  Boone  neglect- 
ed this  requirement,  and  his  title  was  therefore  declared  invalid 
when  the  country  came  into  possession  of  the  United  States  by 
Jefferson's  purchase. 

Boone' s  title  to  the  first  grant  of  1,000  arpents  was  also  de- 
clared void,  but  was  subsequently  confirmed  by  special  act  of 
Congress.  Both  the  American  and  Spanish  governments,  as  a 
condition  precedent  to  the  confirmation  of  titles  to  lands,  required 
actual  settlements,  but  in  1800  Boone  received  the  appointment 
of  commandant  of  Femme  Osage  district,  and  was  informed  by 
Don  Charles  De  Lassus,  who  had  succeeded  Don  Zenon  Trudeau 
as  lieutenant-governor,  that  as  his  duties  as  commandant  would 
require  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time,  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment would  confirm  his  title  without  requiring  actual  settlement. 
Relying  upon  this  promise,  Boone  neglected  to  have  the  proper 
entries  made  upon  the  records,  and  when  Upper  Louisiana  was 
transferred  to  the  United  States,  there  was  nothing  to  support  his 
claim  to  a  title  for  the  lands.  He  subsequently  petitioned  Con- 
gress to  confirm  his  title,  which  request,  we  are  glad  to  know, 
was  some  years  after  granted. 

BOOXE'S  AUTOGRAPH  LETTER. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  during  this  interval  Boone  made 
no  personal  effort  to  secure  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  govern- 
ment, though  his  diffidence  and  quiet  submission  to  the  wrongs 
which  he  suffered  in  having  his  Kentucky  lands  wrested  from 
him,  would  give  color  to  such  a  presumption  if  evidence  to  the 
contrary  were  not  supplied  in  the  form  of  an  autograph  letter 
which  is  herewith  printed  in  fac-simile.  So  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  learn,  after  a  somewhat  diligent  inquiry,  this  is  the  only 
writing  that  is  now  preserved  and  known  positively  to  have  been 
by  the  pen  of  Boone.  It  is  therefore  a  valuable  curiosity,  as 
indicating  the  measure  of  his  schooling  and  his  character  of  ex- 
pression, as  well  as  for  its  importance  as  a  memento  of  a  great 
man. 

It  will  be  observed  in  the  letter  that  he  uses  the  word  "  mar- 
kery  "  for  mercury,  or  calomel,  a  remedy  in  very  general  use 


LIFE   OF    DANIEL    BOONS. 


137 


fifty  years  ago,  and  particularly  among  pioneers,  whose  "  home- 
made "  practice  was  confined  to  two  remedies,  blisters  and  a  ca- 
thartic. But  what  appears  as  a  mistake  in  the  spelling  of  the 


word  is  really  only  a  localism,    for  in  early  days  in  Kentucky 
mercury  was  invariably  called  markery. 
Judge  John  Ccburn,  the  party  to  whom  the  letter  was  aa- 


138  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

dressed,  was  a  warm  personal  friend  5  c  Boone,  whose  acquaint- 
ance he  had  made  at  Boonesborough.  He  emigrated  to  Kentucky 
in  1784,  and  engaged  in  business  at  Lexington  where  he  re- 
mained until  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  when  he  settled  in  Mis- 
souri in  the  neighborhood  of  Ste.  G-enevieve.  He  afterward  be- 
came a  member  of  the  territorial  committee  and  was  a  colleague 
of  Hon.  Frederick  Bates,  subsequently  acting  governor,  and  also 
of  Jno.  B.  C.  Lucas  and  Otis  Shrader,  with  whom  he  was  associ- 
ated in  legislative  duties. 

In  about  the  year  1807  Boone  appealed  to  the  legislature  of 
Kentucky  through  Judge  Coburn,  who  acted  as  his  attorney,  for 
a  restoration  of  the  lands  that  had  been  taken  from  him  by  rea- 
son of  his  failure  to  comply  with  technical  requirements  of  the  law. 
His  petition  was  received  with  favor  and  a  committee  proposed  a 
preamble  to  their  report  in  which  the  following  language  was  used. 

"  Taking  into  view  the  many  eminent  services  rendered  by 
Colonel  Boone,  in  exploring  and  settling  the  western  country, 
from  which  great  advantages  have  resulted,  not  only  to  this  State, 
but  to  this  country  in  general,  and  that  from  circumstances  over 
which  he  had  no  control  he  is  now  reduced  to  poverty,  not  hav- 
ing, so  far  as  appears,  an  acre  of  land  out  of  the  vast  territory 
originally  granted  to  him  and  which  he  has  been  a  great  instru- 
ment in  peopling.  Believing,  also,  that  it  is  as  unjust  as  impolitic 
that  useful  enterprise  and  eminent  services  should  go  unrewarded 
by  a  government  where  merit  confers  the  only  distinction ;  and 
having  sufficient  reason  to  believe  that  a  grant  of  ten  thousand 
acres  of  land,  which  he  claims  in  Upper  Louisiana,  would  have 
been  confirmed  by  the  Spanish  Government  had  not  said  territory 
passed,  by  cession,  into  the  hands  of  the  general  government ; 
wherefore  it  is  resolved,  etc.,  that  our  senators  in  congress  be  re- 
quested to  make  use  of  their  exertions  to  procure  a  grant  of  land 
in  said  territory  to  Boone ;  either  the  ten  thousand  acres,  to  which 
he  appears  to  have  an  equitable  claim,  from  the  grounds  get 
forth  to  this  legislature,  by  way  of  confirmation,  or  to  such  quan 
tity  in  such  place  as  shall  be  deemed  most  advisable  by  way  of 
donation." 

This  preamble  it  is  believed  was  drafted,  or  at  least  supplied, 
from  the  facts  and  representations  made  by  Judge  Coburn,  for 
which  Boone  was  most  grateful. 


LIFE    OF   DANIEL    BOONE.  139 

Boone' s  memorial  to  Congress  was  ably  supported  by  the  exer- 
tions of  Judge  Coburn,  who  greatly  interested  himself  in  his  be- 
half. 

Joseph  Vance,  then  a  member  of  Congress  and  afterwards 
governor  of  Ohio,  and  Judge  Burnett,  the  efficient  friend  of 
General  Morrison,  both  likewise  called  the  attention  of  Congress 
'  *  to  the  condition  of  the  man  who  had  been  the  foremost  man  of 
the  west  —  a  name  (section)  that  even  then  influenced  Congress, 
as  it  soon  will  rule  it."  Congress  in  December,  1813,  then  pre- 
occupied by  the  attack  of  Canadians  and  Indians  on  our  northern 
frontier,  awarded  to  Boone  the  lesser  donation  of  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  acres  out  of  the  untold  millions  of  the  public  domain, 
which  the  United  States  could  so  well  spare.  Jt  made  no  reference 
to  the  lOjOOOarpents  (equivalent  to  nearly  eight  thousand  five  hun- 
dred acres)  which  the  Spanish  commandant  had  donated  to  him, 
and  which  decent  gift  for  services  rendered  to  the  Spanish  authori- 
ties Judge  Coburn  attempted  to  obtain  for  Boone,  as  explained. 

It  is  matter  for  small  wonder,  in  view  of  the  facts  as  described, 
that  it  was  only  by  the  expenditure  of  great  effort  and  per- 
sistency that  Boone  secured  a  title  to  even  a  small  portion  of  the 
lands  which  he  justly  owned.  More  than  one-half  the  applica- 
tions for  titles  made  at  that  period  were  rejected,  and  opposite 
the  names  of  a  majority  of  the  claimants  was  written  on  the  r cords 
the  significant  words,  "  forgery"  "  perjury,"  etc. 

Colonel  Boone  and  members  of  his  family  were  the  first  actual 
American  citizens  to  settle  within  the  present  limits  of  Missouri. 
The  French  had  established  trading  posts  at  several  points,  and 
had  founded  a  village  at  St.  Louis  which,  at  the  time  of  Boone's 
coming,  contained  a  population  of  about  four  hundred,  but  no 
regular  settlements  were  made  beyond  these. 

Louisiana  was  settled  and  remained  in  possession  of  the  French 
until  1762,  when,  by  a  secret  treaty,  it  was  transferred  to  Spain. 
It  thereafter  became  the  policy  of  Spanish  authorities  to  encour- 
age immigration  from  the  United  States.  Fears  were  enter- 
tained that  an  invasion  of  the  country  would  be  made  by  the 
British  or  Indians  from  Canada,  and  the  Americans  being  re- 


140  STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

garded  as  the  natural  adversaries  of  the  British,  it  was  natural  to 
suppose  that  they  would  the  more  readily  tight  to  repel  an  inva- 
sion. The  confidence  thus  imposed,  as  well  as  the  fears  enter- 
tained, was  soon  after  verified.  In  1781  St.  Louis  was  attacked 
by  a  small  army  of  confederated  British  and  Indians,  ostensibly 
in  retaliation  for  the  part  the  King  of  Spain  had  taken  in  favor 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  States. 

Fifteen  hundred  Indians,  and  a  small  party  of  British  soldiers, 
constituted  the  invading  force,  which  came  down  the  Mississippi. 
In  the  battle  that  ensued,  more  than  sixty  of  the  inhabitants  were 
killed,  and  about  thirty  taken  prisoners.  At  this  crisis,  Gen. 
George  R.  Clark,  who  was  at  Kaskaskia  with  several  hundred 
men,  besides  the  Illinois  militia,  appeared  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  river.  The  British  immediately  raised  the  siege  and  re- 
treated, and  the  Indians,  declaring  that  they  had  no  hostile  in- 
tentions against  the  Spanish  government,  but  had  been  deceived 
by  the  British,  dispersed  to  their  villages. 

This  event  caused  the  Spanish  authorities  to  increase  their  ef- 
forts for  the  encouragement  of  American  immigration,  and  the 
most  liberal  offers  were  made  and  disseminated  throughout  the 
western  settlements.  The  result  was  that  the  American  popula- 
tion increased  rapidly,  and  when  the  country  was  transferred  to 
the  United  States  in  1804  more  than  three- fifths  of  the  population 
were  Americans. 

RESTRICTIONS    ON    RELIGIOUS    WORSHIP. 

During  the  Spanish  administration,  no  religious  sect  was  tol- 
erated except  the  Roman  Catholic.  Each  emigrant  was  required 
to  be  a  Catholic,  but  this  requirement  was  evaded  by  a  pious  fic- 
t  ion  in  the  examination  of  the  Americans ;  and  Protestant  fami- 
lies of  all  denominations  settled  in  the  province,  obtained  land 
grants,  and  were  undisturbed  in  their  religious  beliefs.  Protest- 
ant ministers  came  over  from  Illinois  and  preached  in  the  cabins 
of  the  settlers,  unmolested  by  the  Spanish  officers  ;  although  for 
the  sake  of  keeping  up  a  show  of  authority,  they  were  occasion- 
ally threatened  with  imprisonment  in  the  calabozo  at  St.  Louis. 


142  STORY    OF   THE   WILD    tVEST. 

The  late  Keverend  John  Clark,  a  devoutly  pious,  but  rather 
eccentric  preacher,  whose  residence  was  in  Illinois,  made  monthly 
excursions  to  the  Spanish  territory,  and  preached  in  the  houses 
of  the  religious  emigrants.  He  was  a  man  of  great  simplicity  of 
character,  and  much  respected  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him, 
amongst  whom  was  M.  Trudeau,  the  gentlemanly  commandant  at 
St.  Louis.  M.  Trudeau  would  delay  until  he  knew  Mr.  Clark's 
tour  for  that  occasion  was  nearly  finished,  and  then  send  a  threat- 
ening message,  that  if  Monsieur  Clark  did  not  leave  the  Spanish 
country  in  three  days,  he  would  put  him  in  prison.  This  was 
repeated  so  often,  as  to  furnish  a  pleasant  joke  with  the  preacher 
and  his  friends. 

During  these  times,  Mr.  Abraham  Music,  who  was  a  Baptist, 
and  well  acquainted  with  the  commandant,  and  who  likewise  knew 
his  religious  principles,  presented  a  petition  for  leave  to  hold 
meetings  at  his  house,  and  for  per  miss  ion  for  Mr.  Clark  to  preach 
there.  The  commandant,  inclined  to  favor  the  American  set- 
tlers secretly,  yet  compelled  to  reject  all  such  petitions  officially, 
replied  promptly  that  such  a  petition  could  not  be  granted.  It 
was  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  country.  "  I  mean,"  said  the 
accommodating  officer,  "  you  must  not  put  a  bell  on  your  house, 
and  call  it  a  church  nor  suffer  any  person  to  christen  your  chil- 
dren but  the  parish  priest.  But  if  any  of  your  friends  choose  to 
meet  at  your  house,  sing,  pray,  and  talk  about  religion,  you  will 
not  be  molested,  provided  you  continue,  as  I  suppose  you  are, 
unbon  Catholique."  He  well  knew,  that  as  Baptists  they  could 
dispense  with  the  rite  of  infant  baptism,  and  that  plain,  frontier 
people,  as  they  were,  could  find  the  way  to  their  meetings  with- 
out the  sound  of  the  "  church-going  bell." 

As  early  as  the  year  1800,  the  population  of  Femme  Osage 
district  had  increased  so  much  chat  some  sort  of  a  local  govern- 
ment was  required,  and  on  the  llth  of  June  of  that  year  Colonel 
Boone,  as  before  stated,  was  appointed  commandant  of  the  dis- 
trict. The  powers  of  his  office  were  both  civil  and  military,  and 
were  almost  absolute,  if  he  had  possessed  either  the  means  or  the 
desire  to  make  them  so.  His  decision  of  all  questions  was  final, 


LITE    OF   I>ANIEL   BOONE.  143 

except  those  in  regard  to  land  titles,  which  could  only  be  decided 
by  the  crown  or  its  direct  representative. 

But  few  crimes  or  misdemeanors  were  committed,  and  for  these 
summary  justice  was  dealt  out  to  the  offender.  Whipping  on  the 
bare  back  was  generally  the  punishment,  and  so  just  and  equita- 
ble were  Boone' s  sentences  that  the  most  abandoned  characters 
never  thought  of  raising  objections  to  them  or  harboring  resent- 
ment afterward. 

In  1801  the  territory  of  Upper  Louisiana  was  ceded  back  to 
France  by  Spain,  and  in  1803  the  country  was  purchased  from 
France  by  the  United  States.  During  that  interval  the  French 
did  not  again  assume  the  government  of  the  province,  but  the 
Spanish  laws  remained  in  force.  The  formal  transfer  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  United  States  was  made  in  March,  1804,  and  one  year 
later  the  territory  of  Louisiana  was  regularly  organized  by  act  of 
Congress.  As  a  temporary  arrangement,  the  Spanish  laws  re- 
mained in  force  for  a  short  time,  and  Colonel  Boone  continued  to 
exercise  the  authority  of  his  office.  In  fact,  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life  he  had  more  to  do  with  the  government  of  his  settle- 
ment than  the  laws,  or  the  officers  elected  and  appointed  under 
them.  The  people  had  such  unbounded  confidence  in  his  wisdom 
and  justice  that  they  preferred  to  submit  their  disputed  questions 
to  his  arbitration,  rather  than  to  the  uncertain  issues  of  law. 

HOW  BOONE  PAID  HIS  DEBTS. 

During  the  first  few  years  of  their  residence  in  Upper  Louisiana 
Colonel  Boone  and  his  wife  lived  with  their  son,  Daniel  M.,  who 
had  built  a  house  in  Darst's  Bottom,  adjoining  the  tract  of  1,000 
arpents  of  land  granted  to  his  father  by  the  Spanish  government. 
This  entire  tract,  with  the  exception  of  181  acres,  was  sold  by 
Daniel  M.  Boone,  who  had  charge  of  his  father's  business,  to  pay 
the  old  Colonel's  debts  in  Kentucky,  of  which  he  had  left  quite  a 
number  upon  his  removal  to  the  Spanish  dominions,  and  although 
his  creditors  never  would  have  made  any  demands  upon  him,  yet 
he  could  not  rest  easy  until  they  were  paid.  All  his  earnings, 
which  he  derived  from  peltries  obtained  in  his  hunting  excursions, 
were  carefully  saved,  and  at  length  having  made  a  successful  hunt 


144  STORY  OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

and  obtained  a  valuable  supply  of  peltries,  he  turned  it  all  into 
cash,  and  visited  Kentucky  for  the  purpose  of  paying  his  debts. 
He  had  kept  no  book  accounts,  and  knew  not  how  much  he  owed, 
nor  to  whom  he  was  indebted,  but  in  the  honest  simplicity  of  his 
nature,  he  went  to  all  with  whom  he  had  had  dealings,  and  paid 
whatever  was  demanded.  When  he  returned  to  his  family  he  had 
half  a  dollar  left.  "  But,"  said  he  to  his  family  and  a  circle  of 
friends  who  had  called  to  see  him,  "  now  I  am  ready  and  willing  to 
die.  I  have  paid  all  my  debts,  and  nobody  can  say,  when  I  am 
gone,  '  Boone  was  a  dishonest  man.'  ' 

There  is  only  one  deed  on  the  records  in  St.  Charles  signed  by 
Daniel  Boone,  and  that  is  for  181  acres  of  land  (being  a  portion 
of  the  1,000  arpents)  sold  to  Wm.  Coshow,  August  6,  1813,  for 
$315.  The  witnesses  were  D.  M.  Boone  and  John  B.  Callaway. 

Colonel  Boone  and  his  son  laid  off  a  town  on  the  Missouri 
river  and  called  it  Missouriton,  in  honor  of  the  then  territory  of 
Missouri.  They  built  a  horse  mill  there,  which  was  a  great  thing 
in  those  early  days,  and  for  a  while  the  town  flourished  and 
promised  well.  At  one  time  an  effort  was  made  to  locate  the  capi- 
tal of  the  territory  there,  but  it  failed,  and  the  town  soon  de- 
clined. The  place  where  it  stood  has  since  been  washed  away  by 
the  river,  and  no  trace  of  it  now  remains.  There  is  still  a  post- 
office  in  the  neighborhood,  called  Missouriton,  but  the  town  no 
longer  exists. 

The  settlers  did  not  experience  much  trouble  with  the  Indians 
until  after  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  the  settle- 
ments rapidly  extended  over  a  portion  of  the  present  counties  of 
St.  Charles,  Lincoln,  Warren,  Montgomery,  and  Callaway;  and 
in  1808,  a  settlement  was  formed  in  (now)  Howard  county,  near 
the  salt  springs,  called  Boone's  Lick. 

Salt  was  very  scarce  among  the  first  settlers,  and  it  was  so  ex- 
pensive that  but  little  was  used.  It  had  to  be  transported  on 
horseback  from  Kentucky,  or  shipped  in  keel-boats  and  barges 
from  New  Orleans  up  the  Mississippi  river  to  St.  Louis,  from 
whence  it  was  distributed  through  the  settlements  by  traders,  who 
charged  enormous  profits. 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  145 

Sometime  early  in  the  commencement  of  the  present  century, 
Colonel  Boone,  while  on  a  hunting  expedition,  discovered  the  salt 
springs  in  Howard  county ;  and  during  the  summer  of  1807  his 
sons,  Daniel  M.  and  Nathan,  with  Messrs.  Baldridge  and  Manly, 
transported  kettles  there  and  made  salt,  which  they  floated  down 
the  river  that  fall  in  canoes  made  of  hollow  sycamore  logs,  daubed 
at  the  ends  with  clay. 

The  making  of  salt  at  these  springs  subsequently  became  a 
regular  and  paying  business,  and,  assisted  by  the  tide  of  immigra- 
tion that  began  to  flow  there,  led  to  the  opening  of  the  Booneslick 
road,  which  for  years  afterward  was  the  great  thoroughfare  of 
western  emigration. 

The  remaining  incidents  of  Colonel  Boone' s  life,  of  interest  to 
the  public,  are  so  closely  connected  with  the  events  of  the  Indian 
war  of  1812-15,  that  we  cannot  give  them  without  going  into  a 
history  of  those  times,  and  as  that  would  interfere  with  the  ar- 
rangement of  this  work,  we  must  now  bring  this  sketch  to  a 
close. 

DEATH   OF  MRS.    BOONE. 

On  the  18th  of  March,  1813,  Colonel  Boone  experienced  the 
saddest  affliction  of  his  life,  in  the  death  of  his  aged  and  beloved 
wife.  She  had  been  the  companion  of  his  toils,  dangers,  sorrows 
and  pleasures  for  more  than  half  a  contury,  participating  in  the 
same  generous  and  heroic  sacrifices  as  himself.  Ho  loved  her  de- 
votedly, and  their  long  and  intimate  association  had  so  closely 
knitted  their  hearts  together  that  he  seemed  hardly  able  to  exist 
without  her,  and  her  death  to  him  was  an  irreparable  loss. 

She  was  buried  on  the  summit  of  a  beautiful  knoll,  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  (now)  Warren  County,  about  one  mile  southeast  of 
the  little  town  of  Marthasville.  A  small  stream,  called  Teuque 
creek,  flows  by  the  foot  of  this  knoll,  and  pursues  its  tortuous 
course  to  where  it  empties  into  the  Missouri  river,  a  few  miles  to 
the  southeast.  Her  grave  overlooked  the  Missouri  bottoms, 
which  are  here  about  two  miles  in  width,  and  now,  since  the  tim- 
ber has  been  cleared  away,  a  fine  view  of  the  river  can  be  ob- 
tained from  that  spot. 

10 


146  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  the  old  pioneer  marked  a 
place  by  her  side  for  his  own  grave,  and  had  a  coffin  made  of 
black  walnut  for  himself.  He  kept  this  coffin  under  his  bed  for 
several  years,  and  would  often  draw  it  out  and  lie  down  in  it, 
"just  to  see  how  it  would  fit."  But  finally  a  stranger  died  in 
the  community,  and  the  old  man,  governed  by  the  same  liberal 
motives  that  had  been  his  guide  through  life,  gave  his  coffin  to 
the  stranger.  He  afterward  had  another  made  of  cherry,  which 
was  also  placed  under  his  bed,  and  remained  there  until  it  re- 
ceived his  body  for  burial. 

The  closing  years  of  his  life  were  devoted  to  the  society  of  his 
neighbors,  and  his  children  and  grandchildren,  of  whom  he  was 
very  fond.  After  the  death  of  his  wife,  wishing  to  be  near  her 
grave,  he  removed  from  his  son  Nathan's,  on  Femme  Osage 
creek,  where  they  had  lived  for  several  years  previously,  and 
made  his  home  with  his  eldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Flanders  Callaway, 
who  lived  with  her  husband  and  family  on  Teuque  creek,  near 
the  place  where  Mrs.  Boone  was  buried.  Flanders  Callaway 
removed  from  Kentucky  to  Missouri  shortly  before  the  purchase 
of  the  territory  by  the  United  States,  and  received  a  grant  of 
land  from  the  Spanish  government. 

Frequent  visits  were  made  by  the  old  pioneer  to  the  homes  of 
his  other  children,  and  his  coming  was  always  made  the  occasion 
of  an  ovation  to  "  grandfather  Boone,"  as  he  was  affectionately 
called.  Wherever  he  was,  his  time  was  always  employed  at  some 
useful  occupation.  He  made  powder-horns  for  his  grandchildren 
and  neighbors,  carving  and  ornamenting  many  of  them  with  much 
taste.  He  repaired  rifles,  and  performed  various  descriptions  of 
handicraft  with  neatness  and  finish. 

Twice  a  year  he  would  make  an  excursion  to  some  remote 
hunting  ground,  accompanied  by  a  negro  boy,  who  attended  to 
the  camp,  skinned  and  cleaned  the  game,  and  took  care  of  his 
aged  master.  While  on  one  of  these  expeditions,  the  Osage  In- 
dians attempted  to  rob  him,  but  they  met  with  such  prompt  and 
determined  resistance  from  BoOne  and  his  negro  boy,  that  they 
fled  in  haste,  and  molested  him  no  more. 

One  winter  he  went  on  a  hunting  and  trapping  excursion  up 


148  STORY  OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

the  Grand  river,  a  stream  that  rises  in  the  southern  part  of  Iowa 
and  empties  into  the  Missouri  river  between  Carroll  and  Ray 
Counties.  He  was  alone  this  time.  He  paddled  his  canoe  up  the 
Missouri  and  then  up  the  Grand  river,  until  he  found  a  retired 
place  for  his  camp  in  a  cave  among  the  bluffs.  He  then  pro- 
ceeded to  make  the  necessary  preparations  for  trapping  beaver, 
after  which  he  laid  in  his  winter's  supply  of  venison,  turkey,  and 
bear's  meat. 

Each  morning  he  visited  his  traps  to  secure  his  prey,  returning 
to  his  camp  in  such  a  manner  as  to  avoid  discovery  by  any 
prowling  bands  of  Indians  that  might  be  in  the  vicinity.  But 
one  morning  he  had  the  mortification  to  discover  a  large  encamp- 
ment of  Indians  near  his  traps,  engaged  in  hunting.  He  retreated 
to  his  camp  and  remained  there  all  day,  and  fortunately  that 
night  a  deep  snow  fell  and  securely  covered  his  traps.  He  con- 
tinued in  his  camp  for  twenty  days,  until  the  Indians  departed  ; 
and  during  that  time  he  had  no  fire  except  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  when  he  cooked  his  food.  He  was  afraid  to  kindle  a  fire 
at  any  other  time,  lest  the  smoke  or  light  should  discover  his 
hiding  place  to  the  savages.  When  the  snow  melted  away,  the 
Indians  departed  and  left  him  to  himself. 

BOONB  MARKS  THE  SITE  FOR  HIS  GRAVE. 

On  another  occasion  he  took  pack-horses  and  went  to  the  coun- 
try on  the  Osage  river,  accompanied  by  his  negro  boy.  Soon 
after  he  had  prepared  his  camp  he  was  taken  sick,  and  lay  for  a 
long  time  in  a  dangerous  condition.  The  weather  was  stormy 
and  disagreeable,  which  had  a  depressing  effect  upon  the  old 
colonel  and  his  servant  boy.  Finally  the  weather  cleared  up, 
and  there  came  a  pleasant  and  delightful  day.  Boone  felt  that  it 
would  do  him  good  to  walk  out,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  his 
staff  and  the  boy,  he  made  his  way  to  the  summit  of  a  small  em- 
inence. Here  he  marked  out  the  ground  in  the  shape  and  size 
of  a  grave,  and  told  the  boy  that  in  case  he  should  die  he  wanted 
to  be  buried  there,  at  the  same  time  giving  full  instructions  as  to 
the  manner  of  his  burial.  He  directed  the  boy,  in  case  of  his 
death,  to  wash  and  lay  his  body  straight,  wrapped  in  one  of  the 


LIFE   OF  DANIEL  BOONE.  149 

cleanest  blankets.  He  was  then  to  construct  a  kind  of  shovel, 
and  with  that  instrument  and  the  hatchet,  to  dig  a  grave,  exactly 
as  he  had  marked  out.  Then  he  was  to  drag  the  body  to  the 
spot  and  push  it  in  the  grave,  after  which  he  was  to  cover  it, 
placing  posts  at  the  head  and  foot.  Poles  were  to  be  placed 
around  and  over  the  surface,  to  prevent  the  grave  from  being 
opened  by  wild  beasts;  the  trees  were  to  be  marked,  so  the  place 
could  be  found  by  his  friends,  and  then  the  boy  was  to  get  the 
horses,  pack  up  the  skins,  guns,  camp  utensils,  etc.,  and  return 
home,  where  he  was  to  deliver  certain  messages  to  the  family. 
Ail  these  instructions  were  given  with  entire  calmness,  as  if  he 
were  directing  his  ordinary  business  affairs. 

In  December,  1818,  Boone  was  visited  by  the  historian,  Rev. 
John  M.  Peck,  who  was  deeply  and  favorably  impressed  by  the 
venerable  appearance  of  the  aged  pioneer.  Mr.  Peck  had  written 
his  biography,  and  expected  to  obtain  some  additional  notes  from 
him,  but  was  BO  overcome  by  veneration  and  wonder,  that  he 
asked  only  a  few  questions.  If  he  had  carried  out  his  first  inten- 
tion he  would  no  doubt  have  given  us  a  perfectly  correct  account 
of  the  life  of  this  remarkable  man,  but  as  it  was,  a  number  of 
mistakes  crept  into  his  work,  and  many  events  of  interest  that 
occurred  during  the  last  few  years  of  Boone' s  life  were  lost  for- 
ever. 

THE   PAINTING   OF   BOONE *S  PORTRAIT. 

In  the  year  following,  1819,  the  distinguished  American  artist 
of  Boston,  Mr.  Chester  Harding,  paid  a  visit  to  Boone  for  the 
express  purpose  of  painting  his  picture,  to  be  placed  in  the  gal- 
lery of  prominent  American  portraits.  After  executing  the  work 
to  the  great  satisfaction  of  Boone  and  of  himself  as  well,  Mr. 
Harding  wrote  a  little  book  which  he  curiously  titled  his  "  Ego- 
tistigraphy,"  in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  his  visit  to  Boone. 
Mr.  Harding  states  that  he  had  great  trouble  in  locating  the  habi- 
tation of  his  distinguished  subject,  which  was  several  miles  off 
the  old  State  road  leading  out  from  St.  Charles,  and  in  a  very 
sparsely  settled  country.  Enquiries  among  those  in  the  nearest 
neighborhood  failed  to  locate  him,  as  few  seemed  to  know  who 
Colonel  Boone  was.  This  ignorance  of  his  residence  was  due  to 


150  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

the  fact  that  for  ten  years  previous  to  his  death  Boone  had  suf- 
fered so  much  from  rheumatism  and  the  weaknesses  incident  to 
old  age  that  he  had  kept  closely  confined  to  the  house,  and  was 
so  taciturn  that  very  few  persons  visited  him,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  almost  dropped  out  of  notice. 

Mr.  Harding  writes:  "  I  found  the  object  of  my  search  en- 
gaged in  cooking  dinner.  He  was  half -reclining  on  the  bunk, 
near  the  fire,  and  had  a  long  strip  of  venison  spitted  on  a  ramrod, 
and  while  turning  it  before  a  hot  blaze  he  used  considerable  pep- 
per and  salt  to  season  it.  I  at  once  explained  to  him  the  object 
of  my  visit,  but  it  was  with  some  difficulty  I  could  make  him 
understand.  When,  at  length,  he  comprehended  my  purpose  he 
agreed  to  sit,  and  also  to  dress  himself  in  a  buckskin  suit  in 
order  to  make  the  portrait  more  characteristic.  He  was  quite 
infirm  and  his  memory  much  impaired,  yet  he  amused  and  in- 
terested me  much  with  recitals,  often  humorous,  of  His  adventures 
in  earlier  years,  and  made  the  several  days  of  my  visit  with  him 
extremely  pleasant." 

It  was  from  this  celebrated  portrait  painted  by  Mr.  Harding, 
and  the  only  picture  of  Boone  in  existence,  that  the  engraving 
in  this  work  was  made.  The  original  is  owned  by  a  private 
gentleman  residing  in  Boston,  who  refused  a  liberal  offer  made 
him  for  the  picture  by  General  James  Harding,  who  tried  to  se- 
cure it  with  the  view  of  placing  it  in  the  State  capitol  of  Missouri. 

DEATH    OF   DANIEL   BOONE. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1820,  Boone  had  a  severe 
attack  of  fever,  which  confined  him  to  his  bed  for  some  time  at 
Flanders  Callaway's,  but  he  rallied  and  was  able  to  visit  his  son, 
Major  Nathan  Boone,  who  lived  on  Femme  Osage  Creek.  The 
children  were  greatly  delighted  to  see  their  grandfather  again  and 
everything  was  done  to  render  him  comfortable.  For  a  few  days 
he  was  happy  in  their  society,  and  by  his  genial  disposition  and 
pleasant  manners  diffused  joy  and  gladness  throughout  the  entire 
household.  His  true  character  was  never  manifested  in  the 
presence  of  strangers,  before  whom  he  always  appeared  somewhat 
diffident,  if  not  morose ;  but  in  the  company  of  his  relatives  or  in- 
timate acquaintances  he  was  the  soul  of  good  humor  and  geniality. 


LIFE    OF    DANIEL   BOONE.  151 

One  day  a  dish  of  baked  sweet-potatoes  —  of  which  he  was  ex- 
tremely fond — was  prepared  for  him.  He  ate  heartily  and  soon 
after  had  an  attack  from  which  he  never  recovered.  He  grew 
rapidly  worse  and  after  three  days'  illness  expired,  on  the  26th 
of  September,  1820,  in  the  86th  year  of  his  age.  He  died  peace- 
fully, without  a  single  fear  of  death  or  misgivings  about  a  future 


existence.  He  had  never  made  any  profession  of  religion,  or 
united  with  any  church,  but  his  entire  life  was  «  beautiful  exam- 
ple of  the  golden  rule —  "do  unto  others  as  you  would  that  they 
should  do  unto  you."  In  a  letter  to  one  of  his  sisteis,  written  a 
short  time  before  his  death,  he  said  that  he  had  always  tried  to 
live  as  an  honest  and  conscientious  man  should,  and  was  perfectly 
willing  to  surrender  his  soul  to  the  discretion  of  a  just  God.  His 
mind  was  not  such  as  could  lean  upon  simple  faith  or  mere  belief, 
but  it  required  a  well  considered  reason  for  everything,  and  he  died 
the  death  of  a  philosopher  rather  than  that  of  a  Christian.  His 
death  was  like  the  sleep  of  an  infant —  quiet,  peaceful  and  serene. 
We  present  on  this  page  a  picture  of  the  house  in  which  Daniel 
Boone  died.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  occupied  the  front  room 
on  the  first  floor  to  the  right  of  the  hall  as  you  enter. 


152  STOR¥  OP  THE  WILD  Nvfcsr. 

It  has  been  stated  in  many  of  his  "lives  "  that  he  died  at  a 
deer  "lick,"  with  his  gun  in  his  hands,  watching  for  deer.  In 
others,  that  he  died,  as  he  had  lived,  in  a  log  cabin.  But  on  the 
contrary,  the  house  was,  and  is — for  it  is  still  standing,  just  as 
represented  in  the  picture  —  a  neat,  substantial,  and  comfortable 
stone  building. 

The  remains  of  the  departed  pioneer  were  sorrowfully  placed 
in  the  coffin  he  had  prepared,  and  conveyed,  the  next  day,  to  the 
home  of  Mr.  Flanders  Callaway.  The  news  of  his  decease  had 
spread  rapidly,  afind  a  vast  concourse  of  people  collected  on  the 
day  of  the  funeral  to  pay  their  last  respects  to  the  distinguished 
and  beloved  dead. 

The  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  James  Craig,  a  son- 
in-law  of  Major  Nathan  Boone  ;  and  the  house  being  too  small  to 
accommodate  the  immense  concourse  of  people,  the  remains  were 
carried  to  the  large  barn  near  the  house,  into  which  the  people 
crowded  to  listen  to  the  funeral  services.  At  their  close  the 
body  was  borne  to  the  cemetery  and  sadly  deposited  in  the  grave 
that  had  been  prepared  for  it,  close  by  the  side  of  Mrs. 
Boone. 

At  the  time  of  Boone' s  death  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
Missouri  was  in  session  at  St.  Louis,  and  upon  receipt  of  the  intel- 
ligence a  resolution  was  offered  by  Hon.  Benjamin  Emmons, 
of  St.  Charles,  that  the  members  wear  the  usual  badge  oi 
mourning  for  thirty  days,  in  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased  and  adjourn  for  one  day.  The  resolution  was  unani- 
mously adopted. 

The  Boone  family  was  noted  for  longevity.  George  Boone,  a 
brother  of  Daniel,  died  in  Shelby  County,  Ky.,  in  November, 
1820,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three;  Samuel,  another  brother,  died 
at  the  age  of  eighty-eight ;  Jonathan  at  eighty-six  ;  Mrs.  Wilcox, 
a  sister,  at  ninety-one ;  Mrs.  Grant,  another  sister,  at  eighty- 
four,  and  Mrs.  Smith,  a  third  sister,  at  eighty-four.  There  is  no 
record  of  the  deaths  of  the  rest  of  Boone' s  brothers  and  sisters, 
except  those  given  heretofore,  but  they  all  lived  to  be  old  men 
and  women. 


LIFE  OF  DANIEL  teooNE.  153 

THE  REMAINS  HONORED  BY  KENTUCKY. 

When  Colonel  Boone  made  choice  of  a  place  of  burial  for  himself 
and  family,  and  was  so  particular  to  enjoin  his  friends,  if  he  died 
from  home,  to  remove  his  remains  to  the  hill  near  Teuque,  he  did 
not  anticipate  an  event  which  occurred  a  quarter  of  a  century 
after  his  death,  and  which  resulted  in  the  remains  of  himself  and 
wife  finding  their  last  resting  place  on  the  banks  of  the  Kentucky 
river  in  the  land  he  loved  so  well. 

In  1845  a  new  cemetery  was  dedicated  by  the  citizens  of  Frank- 
fort, Kentucky,  and  it  was  proposed  to  consecrate  the  ground  by 
interring  therein  the  bodies  of  Daniel  Boone  and  his  devoted 
wife,  that  had  slumbered  together  in  a  sacred  spot  prepared  by 
loving  hands,  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri,  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  When  the  proposal  was  suggested  the  legislature  of 
Kentucky  was  in  session,  and  one  of  its  leading  members,  Mr. 
Collins,  arose  and  eloquently  favored  the  proposition  in  the  fol- 
lowing language :  * '  There  seems  to  be  a  peculiar  propriety  in 
thia  testimonial  of  the  veneration  borne  by  the  Commonwealth 
for  the  memory  of  its'  illustrious  dead ;  and  it  is  fitting  that  the 
soil  of  Kentucky  should  afford  the  final  resting  place  for  his  re- 
mams9  whose  blood  in  life  was  so  often  shed  to  protect  it  from 
the  fury  of  savage  hostility.  It  is  a  beautiful  and  touching  man- 
ifestation of  filial  affection  shown  by  children  for  a  beloved 
parent.  It  is  right  that  the  generation  that  is  reaping  in  peace 
the  fruits  of  his  toils  and  dangers,  should  desire  to  have  in  their 
midst,  and  decorate  with  the  tokens  of  their  love,  the  sepulchre 
of  this  Primeval  Patriarch,  whose  stout  heart  watched  by  the 
cradle  of  this  now  powerful  Commonwealth." 

The  legislature  appointed  a  committee,  consisting  of  Hon. 
John  J.  Crittenden,  William  Boone,  a  distant  relative,  and  Mr. 
Swaggart,  to  superintend  the  removal  of  the  remains  to  the 
Frankfort  cemetery.  In  the  succeeding  summer  the  committee 
went  to  Missouri,  taking  passage,  by  water,  at  Louisville,  on  the 
steamer  Daniel  Boone,  and  were  received  at  St.  Louis  by  a  del- 
egation of  citizens,  and  by  them  conducted  to  the  site  of  the 
interment. 


154 


STOfcY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


The  graves   were  situated  on  land  belonging  to  Mr.  Harvey 
Griswold.  who  at  first  objected  to  the  removal,  as  he  intended  to 


Qtft 


BOONE  S    MONUMENT    IN    THE    FRANKFORT    CEMETERY. 


build  a  monument  over  them,  and  beautify  the  place.     Mr.  Gris- 
wold was  supported  in  his  objections  by  a  number  of  influential 


LIFE   OF   DANIEL   BOONE.  155 

citizens,  who  claimed  that  Missouri  had  as  much  right  to  the  re- 
mains of  Daniel  Boone  as  Kentucky,  especially  as  the  old  pioneer 
had  selected  the  location  of  his  .grave,  and  had  given  such  partic- 
ular instructions  in  regard  to  his  being  buried  there. 

The  gentlemen  from  Kentucky  finally  carried  their  point, 
however,  and  on  the  17th  of  July,  1845,  the  remains  of  Daniel 
Boone  and  his  wife  were  removed  from  their  graves.  The  work 
was  done  by  King  Bryant,  Henry  Augbert  and  Jeff.  Callaway, 
colored.  Mrs.  Boone' s  coffin  was  found  to  be  perfectly  sound, 
and  the  workmen  had  but  little  difficulty  in  removing  it ;  but 
Colonel  Boone' s  coffin  was  entirely  decayed,  and  the  remains  had 
to  be  picked  out  of  the  dirt  by  which  they  were  surrounded. 
One  or  two  of  the  smaller  bones  were  found  afterward,  and  kept 
by  Mr.  Griswold  as  relics. 

The  remains  were  placed  in  new  coffins  prepared  for  their  re- 
ception, and  conveyed  to  Kentucky,  where  they  were  re-interred, 
with  appropriate  ceremonies,  in  the  cemetery  at  Frankfort,  on 
the  20th  of  August,  1845.  A  vast  concourse  of  people  from  all 
parts  of  the  State  had  collected  to  witness  the  ceremonies.  An 
oration  was  delivered  by  Hon.  John  J.  Crittenden,  and  Mr. 
Joseph  B.  Wells,  of  Missouri,  made  an  appropriate  address. 

The  graves  on  the  hill  near  Teuque  creek  were  never  refilled, 
but  remain  to-day  as  they  were  left  by  the  workmen,  except 
that  the  rains  have  partly  filled  them  with  dirt,  and  they  are  over- 
grown with  weeds  and  briars.  Rough  head  stones  had  been 
carved  by  Mr.  Jonathan  Bryan,  and  placed  at  the  heads  of  the 
graves.  These  were  thrown  back  on  the  ground,  and  are  still 
lying  there.  Recently,  pieces  of  these  stones  have  been  chipped 
off  and  sent  to  Kentucky  as  mementoes. 

A  beautiful  monument  was  erected  over  the  graves  of  Boone 
and  his  wife  in  the  Frankfort  cemetery,  a  few  years  after  the  re- 
interment of  the  bodies,  on  the  four  squares  of  which  were  carved 
scenes  representing  his  conflicts  with  the  Indians.  The  site  se- 
lected is  a  fit  resting  place  for  the  noble  hero  of  the  "  dark  and 
bloody  ground." 


166 


DAVY  CROCKETT. 


LIFE  OF  DAVY  CROCKETT. 


CHAPTER    I. 

A   UNIQUE  CHARACTER  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY. 

F  1  were  asked  to  name  the  most  singu- 
lar, and  in.  many  respects  the  most 
remarkable,  man  in  the  history  of 
pioneer  settlement  in  the  great  west  I 
should,  without  a  moment's  considera- 
tion of  others ,  say  :  « « Davy  Crockett . ' ' 
He  possessed  a  rare  combination  of 
astonishing  traits  of  character  that 
marked  him  for  a  prominent  place 
among  western  men,  and  that  he  at- 
tained to  considerable  prominence  in 
American  politics  was,  like  the  oper- 
ation of  the  law  of  gravity,  because  his 
specific  weight,  so  to  speak,  brought 
him  naturally  to  that  position.  Few 
men  could  tell  a  story  better,  and  none 
had  a  more  abundant  supply  of  mother- 
wit  at  his  fingers'  ends,  than  Davy 
Crockett.  He  could  play  the  fiddle 
too,dance  a  jig,  and  shoot  with  the  best 
riflemen  of  the  timed.  These  -were  accomplishments  that  went 
very  far  in  recommending  him  to  public  favor,  but  they  were 
the  least  of  his  powers  of  attraction.  He  possessed  those  bolder 
traits  and  faculties  of  pride  and  ambition,  a  heart  that  was  abso- 
lutely fearless  as  it  was  honest,  open,  generous  and  sympathetic. 
Bravery  and  generosity  had  a  perpetual  home  in  his  bosom,  and 

(157) 


158  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

he  may  be  said  to  have  carried  his  character  on  his  sleeve,  so 
easy  was  it  to  read  and  understand.  Davy  Crockett  lived  in  a 
day  when  an  honest  declaration  of  policy  and  intention  counted 
for  something,  when  even  politics  was  leavened  with  principle, 
and  a  promise  was  worth  its  face  value. 

He  came  upon  the  stage  of  action  as  a  hewer  and  fashioner  of 
the  wilderness  into  homes  for  civilization  just  as  Boone  was  re- 
tiring, a  prototype  of  the  Kentucky  hunter,  improved  by  the 
advantages  of  example,  and  the  opportunities  of  the  age. 

Accomplishing  results  similar  to  those  wrought  out  by  Boone, 
yet  Crockett  was  as  unlike  the  great  Kentucky  hunter  as  torrents 
are  unlike  the  perennial  brook.  Instead  of  that  quiet  modesty 
which  was  characteristic  of  Boone  in  his  intercourse  with  the  peo- 
ple, and  which  was  the  cause  of  much  that  was  interesting  in  his 
life  being  lost  to  history,  Crockett  was  full  of  self-complacency 
and  pushed  himself  forward,  though  never  in  a  vainglorious  or  of- 
fensive manner.  But  he  knew  how  to  measure  his  own  merit,  and 
has  done  the  public  a  service,  while  gratify  ing  an  excusable  pride, 
by  leaving  us  an  autobiography  that  has  carried  delight  into 
thousands  of  homes.  From  this  book,  abounding  with  so  much 
original  humor  and  thrilling  adventure,  I  have  taken  most  of  the 
facts  concerning  his  career ,,  though  other  sources  of  information 
have  not  been  neglected,  which  have  yielded  some  very  interest- 
ing returns. 

MURDER  OF  CROCKETT'S    GRANDPARENTS. 

According  to  his  own  statement,  Davy  Crockett  was  born  on 
the  17th  of  August,  1786,  in  a  small  cabin  located  in  the 
wilderness  of  East  Tennessee,  then  a  part  of  Virginia,  at  the 
mouth  of  Lime  creek,  where  it  debouches  into  the  Nolachucky 
river  and  in  what  is  now  Washington  County.  His  father,  John 
Crockett,  was  an  Irishman,  but  his  mother,  nee  Rebecca  Hawk- 
ins, was  a  native  of  Maryland.  Davy  knew  very  little  about  the 
history  of  his  parents,  as  genealogical  information  was  not  re- 
garded as  having  much  value  in  that  day  among  pioneers ;  the 
most  that  he  learned  concerning  them  was  that  h.is  father  fought 


LIFE   OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  159 

a.t  King's  Mountain,  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  that  his  grand- 
parents were  killed  by  the  Indians  on  the  very  ground  where 
Rogersville,  in  Hawkins  County,  Tennessee,  now  stands.  At  the 
time  of  the  murder  of  his  grandparents  his  uncle  James,  a  deaf 
mute,  was  captured  by  the  Indians  with  whom  he  remained 
nearly  eighteen  years  and  until  recovered,  by  ransoming,  by  his 
elder  brother,  William. 

The  family  of  John  Crockett  comprised  nine  children,  six  sons 
and  three  daughters,  and  as  he  was  a  very  poor  man  there  was 
little  opportunity  for  the  numerous  progeny  beyond  hard  work 
and  abundant  privations.  After  trying  to  improve  a  really  mis- 
erable existence  on  the  Nolachucky  f  or  some  years  without  avail, 
the  elder  Crockett  moved  to  Cove  creek  where,  in  connection 
with  a  man  named  Galbreath,  he  erected  a  water-mill,  but  without 
mending  his  fortune,  for  a  freshet  swept  away  every  vestige  of 
the  building  and  came  near  drowning  the  family  also,  as  all  were 
compelled  to  wade  through  the  rushing  waters  to  dry  ground.  His 
next  removal  was  to  what  is  now  Jefferson  County,  Tennessee, 
where  he  opened  a  tavern  on  the  road  from  Abbingdon  to  Knox- 
ville. 

YOUNG  CROCKETT'S  GRADUATION. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  years  young  Davy  was  hired  by  his  father 
to  a  German  cattle  dealer  named  Siler,  who  treated  him  with 
some  kindness,  and  with  whom  he  remained  for  six  weeks,  when 
he  ran  away  and  joined  a  teamster  who  was  en  route  to  Knox- 
ville.  •  After  a  week  of  hardships  he  abandoned  the  second  serv- 
ice in  which  he  had  engaged  and  returned  home,  where  he 
remained  until  the  succeeding  fall.  There  being  no  special  work 
for  him  to  do  his  father  sent  him  to  a  country  school  kept  by  a 
typical  backwoods  schoolmaster,  who  knew  better  how  to  wield 
the  birch  than  to  impart  instruction.  On  the  fourth  day  of  his 
attendance,  when  he  had  just  begun  to  learn  his  letters,  Davy 
had  a  misunderstanding  with  one  of  his  fellow-pupils,  whom  he 
waylaid  and  severely  flogged.  Fearful  of  the  punishment  that 
awaited  him  for  this  arbitrary  assumption  of  the  privilege  which 
the  schoolmaster  jealously  reserved  to  himself,  Davy  kept  clear 


160 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


of  the  teacher  for  a  week  and  until  his  truancy  was  reported  to 
his  father.  The  old  man  was  given  to  the  habit  of  taking  a 
drink  and  then  of  swallowing  several  more  to  keep  the  first  one 
company,  which  generally  served  to  excite  a  temper  that  was  at 
no  time  very  amiable.  Gathering  three  heavy  switches,  as  a 
preparatory  measure,  the  elder  Crockett  called  Davy  to  him 
with  ill-disguised  purpose  in  his  expression  and  a  manifest  avowal 
in  his  brawny  right  hand.  But  Davy  was  so  averse  to  submitting 
himself  to  the  discipline  that  was  threatened,  that  he  turned  his 
back  upon  the  irate  old  man  and  broke  for  liberty.  A  lively 
chase  ensued,  in  which  Davy  maintained  a  good  lead  until  his 


DAVY   AS    A   DROVER    BOY. 

father  was  blowed  and  distanced.  The  die  was  now  cast,  and 
young  as  he  was,  Davy  thought  only  of  a  final  dissolution  of 
partnership  with  the  family. 

Being  a  likely  boy,  with  plenty  of  pluck  and  resolution,  bn  the 
same  day  he  found  employment  with  a  drover  named  Cheek, 
with  whom  he  traveled  to  Front  Koyal,  in  North  Carolina.  Re- 
ceiving about  seven  dollars  for  his  services  with  the  drover, 
Davy  drifted  about  in  the  east  for  some  time,  working  at  odd 
jobs,  until  at  last  he  found  himself  in  Baltimore.  Here  he  en- 
gaged to  make  a  voyage  to  London  on  a  sailing  vessel,  but  was 
prevented  by  a  wagoner,  who  had  his  clothes,  and  who  wanted 
him  to  drive  a  load  of  flour  to  Winchester.  The  result  of  this 
restraint  over  Davy  was,  that  he  gave  the  wagoner  the  slip  and 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  161 

started  west  on  foot,  but  soon  meeting  with  another  teamster, 
named  Myers,  he  put  himself  upon  such  good  terms  with  the 
stranger  that  he  secured  a  ride  as  far  as  Montgomery  Court 
House  in  Virginia.  Here  he  set  in  to  work  for  a  farmer  at  live 
dollars  per  month,  but  at  the  end  of  the  first  month  quit,  and 
bound  himself  as  an  apprentice  to  a  hatter  named  Griffith,  with 
whom  he  continued  for  eighteen  months,  when  the  hatter  became 
so  involved  in  debt  that  he  broke  up  and  left  the  country,  leaving 
Davy  without  so  much  as  a  shilling  or  a  good  suit  of  clothes. 

Discouraged  and  desperately  homesick,  the  poor  boy  resolved 
to  seek  his  parents  from  whom  he  had  not  heard  a  word  since  his 
sudden  departure  more  than  two  years  before.  To  procure  the 
means  for  traveling  through  the  country  he  worked  at  odd  em- 
ployments, sometimes  sawing  wood  for  his  supper,  and  again 
doing  the  evening  chores  of  a  farm  house  for  lodging.  Occa- 
sionally riding  a  short  way  on  some  passing  wagon,  but  more 
often  trudging  along  on  foot,  after  several  weeks  of  toilsome  but 
patient  travel  he  at  length  reached  home  so  changed  in  appear- 
ance that  none  of  the  family  recognized  him.  At  this  time 
Davy  was  nearly  fifteen  years  of  age,  and,  as  he  says,  was  so  ig- 
norant that  he  did  not  know  a  single  letter  of  the  alphabet. 

DAVY   EARNS    HIS    FREEDOM   BUT   MEETS  WITH    DISAPPOINTMENT    IN 
HIS  LOVE-MAKING. 

After  remaining  at  home  a  few  weeks  Davy  accepted  a  propo- 
sition made  to  him  by  his  father,  whereby  the  latter  agreed  that  if 
Davy  would  engage  to  work  out  a  debt  of  thirty-six  dollars, 
which  Mr.  Crockett  owed  to  a  man  named  Wilson,  a  neighbor,  he 
would  set  him  free,  which  offer  was  immediately  accepted,  and 
Davy  entered  upon  a  service  of  six  months  to  discharge  the  debt. 
Having  won  his  freedom,  the  industrious  youth,  of  his  own 
volition,  worked  six  months  for  another  of  his  father's  creditors, 
named  Kenedy,  to  whom  Mr.  Crockett  owed  forty  dollars,  in 
which  service  he  discharged  his  duties  so  well  that  he  was  em- 
ployed for  another  term  of  six  months  by  the  same  gentleman. 

During  this  latter  engagement  Davy  fell  violently  in  love  with 

11 


162  STOKY   OP  THE   WILD   WEST. 

a  lass  of  the  neighborhood,  to  whom  he  paid  assiduous  court,  and 
made  such  excellent  progress  in  his  suit  that,  at  his  request,  she 
promised  to  marry  him.  The  wedding  day  was  fixed,  but  almost 
at  the  last  moment  the  fickle  girl  changed  her  mind  so  radically 
that  she  married  another  fellow  who  had  long  been  her  suitor,  and 
was  not  even  so  courteous  as  to  invite  Davy  to  the  wedding. 

After  hugging  this  disappointment  to  his  badly  wounded  heart 
for  several  weeks,  Davy  concluded  that  he  must  prepare  himself 
for  future  exigencies  by  acquiring  at  least  a  limited  education. 
With  this  resolve  he  engaged  to  work  two  days  of  each  week  for 
a  Quaker  schoolmaster  as  payment  for  instruction  during  the 
other  four,  and  under  this  arrangement  he  continued  for  a  period 
of  six  months,  by  which  he  learned  to  read  in  a  primer,  to  write 
his  name,  and,  as  he  says,  "  to  cypher  some  in  the  first  three  rules 
of  figures,"  whatever  this  may  mean.  At  the  end  of  this  time  he 
quit  school  to  devote  his  energies  to  searching  for  a  wife.  Being  a 
natural  born  hunter,  he  was  not  long  in  finding  a  repository  for 
his  affections  in  a  niece  of  the  Quaker  schoolmaster,  and  became 
a  second  time  engaged,  but  sad  to  relate,  with  no  better  results 
than  attended  his  first  courtship,  for  he  was  again  jilted  at  the  very 
hour  he  reckoned  his  happiness  nearly  complete,  which  threw  him 
into  a  melancholy  that  he  did  not  recover  from  for  a  long  time. 

COURTING-   UNDER   DIFFICULTIES,  BUT  MARRIED  AT  LAST. 

As  all  things  have  an  ending  so  did  that  of  Davy's  grief,  which 
terminated  quickly  by  a  fortunate  meeting  with  a  pretty  little 
Irish  girl  who,  in  addition  to  being  handsome  and  interesting, 
encouraged  his  suit  and  thus  relieved  the  sickness  of  his  heart  like 
an  instantaneous  panacea.  He  first  met  her  at  a  reaping,  where 
a  goodly  company  of  neighbors  had  assembled  who,  after  tkeir 
labor  was  done,  fell  to  with  joyful  zest  in  a  country  dance,  in 
which  Davy  participated.  The  night  was  thus  spent  all  too 
quickly,  as  pleasure  travels  with  a  light  step,  but  Davy  had  made 
the  most  of  his  opportunity,  and  was  invited  by  the  little  Irish 
girl  to  call  on  her.  The  following  Sunday  he  availed  himself  of 
this  invitation,  but  was  much  chagrined  to  find  that  the  girl  al- 
ready had  company,  and  that  too,  in  the  person  of  a  likely  ap- 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  163 

pear  ing  young  man,  whose  motives  in  making  the  visit  was  only 
too  apparent.  Davy  again  felt  the  pricking  of  bitter  disappoint- 
ment, but  with  characteristic  pertinacity  he  remained  at  the 
house  until  the  girl  gave  him  some  attention,  and  this,  too,  of  an 
encouraging  character.  He  soon  learned,  however,  that  while 
favoring  his  suit  the  girl  was  compelled  to  forego  her  own  desires 
by  reason  of  the  determination  of  her  mother  that  she  should 
marry  the  likely  young  man.  H  ere  was  opposition  which  Davy  had 
not  before  encountered,  but  which  threatened  no  less  painful  results. 

The  visits  of  Davy  to  his  inamorata  being  displeasing  to  her 
parents  he  was  forced  to  other  expedients  for  gaining  interviews 
which  were  not  always  agreeable  nor  successful,  but  at  length 
good  fortune  came  to  his  aid  in  a  singular  way,  as  the  mysterious 
dame  usually  employs  to  bring  troubled  lovers  together. 

Wolves  were  very  numerous  in  eastern  Tennessee  at  this  time 
and  farmers  suffered  greatly  from  their  depredations.  To  rid 
themselves  of  these  voracious  pests  of  the  sheep-fold,  the  farmers 
frequently  organized  wolf -hunts,  at  which  every  man  of  the 
neig  borhood  capable  of  bearing  a  rifle  met  at  an  appointed  ren- 
dezvous and  there  made  plans  for  the  hunt.  Pursuant  to  those 
plans  the  hunters  were  sent  out  in  appointed  directions  a  consid- 
erable distance  and  then  hunted  towards  a  common  center  until  on 
t  he  incoming,  a  circle  was  formed  in  which  large  numbers  of  wolves 
were  invariably  driven  together  when  the  slaughter  would  begin. 

Davy  attended  one  of  these  famous  hunts,  which  was  arranged 
to  take  place  in  a  section  of  country  very  thinly  settled,  and 
which  was  totally  unknown  to  him.  It  happened,  therefore,  that 
being  sent  out  some  distance  from  any  others  of  the  party  he 
found  himself  bewildered  when  hunting  back,  and  as  it  suddenly 
grew  quite  dark,  by  reason  of  the  passage  of  a  <lense,  black  cloud 
portending  a  sionn,  he  became  lost.  For  a  considerable  time  he 
rode  about  the  country  in  a  vain  search  for  some  habitation  until 
he  saw  ahead  of  him  the  figure  of  a  female  who  appeared  as  dis- 
tracted as  himself.  What  was  his  amazement  upon  coming 
within  bailing  distance,  to  tind  that  it  was  the  pretty  little  Irish 
girl  who,  being  out  in  quest  of  her  father's  horses  that  had 


H>4 


ra-  OF  THR  vvu.cr 


strayed  from  their  usual  grazing  grounds,  bad  lost  her  way  and 
Wa/ncnv  like  M-nself  in  ** 


THE    WOLF    HUNTERS. 

direct  her  home.     Their  fortunate  meeting  reconciled  them  both 
to  the  mischance  of  beii^  lost,  since  it  afforded  an  opportunity 


,    LIFE    OF   bAVY    CROCKETT.  165 

for  frank  speech  regarding  the  subject  ef  matrimony,  which  they 
had  not  before  had.  So  well  did  they  embrace  it,  too,  that  be- 
fore nightfall  they  came  upon  a  house  in  the  wood  where  a  hos- 
pitable family  lived  that  gave  them  accommodations,  but  instead 
of  retiring  at  a  proper  hour  Davy  and  his  girl  sat  up  all  night 
love-making  and  planning  for  going  to  housekeeping  within  the 
next  few  days,  and,  if  necessary  how  they  might  make  an  elope- 
ment successful. 

The  result  of  the  wolf  hunt  was,  that  on  the  following  Thurs- 
day, despite  the  protests  of  the  mother,  whose  opposition  was 
almost  venomous  with  passionate  resistance,  Davy  secured  his 
girl  and  together  they  went  off  in  triumph  and  were  married  by 
a  justice  of  the  peace.  At  the  last  moment,  however,  the  old 
lady  relented  and  gave  the  happy  twain  her  blessing,  which  was 
about  all  that  she  was  able  to  bestow. 

Davy  having  at  length,  by  the  expenditure  of  much  effort  and 
the  experience  of  no  little  suffering,  become  a  married  man,  he 
set  in  to  earn  a  home.  He  engaged  to  work  for  a  neighbor  six 
months  for  a  very  poor  and  aged  horse,  while  his  wife  sat  hard  by 
the  spinning  wheel  and  made  it  profitable.  Thus  working 
together,  before  the  first  year  of  their  married  life  had  passed, 
they  owned  a  horse,  some  few  household  effects,  a  cabin  in  a  one- 
acre  clearing  and  —  one  baby.  To  this  was  added,  also,  two 
cows  and  a  calf  as  a  marriage  portion,  so  that  there  were  families 
in  Tennessee,  and  in  trumpet  call,  too,  not  so  well  off  in  worldly 
goods  as  was  Davy's,  which  excited  a  pride  he  had  never  felt 
before.  He  continued  farming  during  the  years  1809-10,  when, 
having  heard  much  concerning  the  fertility  of  the  Duck  and  Elk 
river  country,  which  was  then  just  beginning  to  be  settled,  he 
determined  to  remove  thither.  His  possessions  were  not  so  large 
or  the  distance  so  great  but  that  this  removal  was  made  with 
little  difficulty  and  he  settled  on  Beans  creek,  in  Franklin 
county,  near  Winchester.  Here  his  life  took  on  the  glamor  of 
that  excitement  for  which  his  nature  longed,  and  brought  out 
points  of  character  that  might  have  remained  passive  but  for  the 
stirring  events  that  called  them  into  action. 


IGli 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTER    H. 

THE    CREEK  WAR. 

»MONG  the  farmer  folk  with  whom  he 
had  been  raised,  Davy  Crockett  was 
only  a  plain,  plodding,  unambitious 
man,  with  little  even  of  the  humor  that 
afterwards  made  him  so  famous,  and  no 
revealed  traits  that  set  him  above  the 
humblest  of  his  neighbors.  That  cir- 
cumstances, quite  as  much  as  condition, 
develop  genius,  finds  remarkable  illus- 
tration in  the  life  of  this  great  pioneer, 
and  it  was  to  contrast  the  character  of 
Davy  the  farmer  boy,  with  that  of  Davy  the  renowned  hunter, 
congressman  and  heroic  defender,  that  I  have  given  so  much, 
which  appears  unimportant,  of  his  early  life.  Henceforth  we  are 
to  see  him  in  more  exciting  positions,  and  behold  the  unfolding 
of  a  character  that  originally  promised  so  little,  but  which  de- 
veloped so  much,  and  gave  his  name  to  history. 

The  Creek  war  began  with  the  soul  harrowing  massacre  at 
Fort  Mimms,  August  30,  1813,  and  as  Crockett  participated  as 
a  volunteer  in  the  sanguinary  struggle  that  followed,  the  circum- 
stances precipitating  it,  should  be  given  here. 

Fort  Mimms  was  built  of  logs,  in  the  frontier  style,  in  the 
center  of  a  fallow  field,  near  the  junction  of  the  Tom  Bigby  and 
Alabama  rivers.  It  had  no  special  garrison,  but  afforded  pro- 
tection to  nearly  a  dozen  families,  and  consequently  as  many 
men.  No  Indians  had  shown  themselves  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
fort  for  a  long  time,  nor  had  there  been  any  depredations  com- 
mitted by  them  in  East  Tennessee  or  Northern  Alabama  for  so 
many  years  that  an  Indian  outbreak  was  not  thought  of.  But  in 
this  hour  of  peace  and  fancied  security  danger  was  hovering 
about  the  little  fort  with  bloody  eye  and  merciless  hands. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT. 


167 


Towards  even  ng  on  the  fateful  day  a  little  negro  boy  belonging 
to  a  family  residing  within  the  stockades  was  sent  out  to  drive  in 
the  cows.  Going  some  distance  into  the  woods,  where  the 
animals  were  accustomed  to  range,  he  was  startled  from  a  dreamy 
revery  by  the  appearance  of  three  Indians,  who  dodged  behind 
trees  to  hide  themselves  from  view.  But  the  little  negro  had 
seen  enough,  and  broke  through  the  woods  at  his  best  pace,  and 
not  being  pursued  he  gained  the  fort  without  other  injury  than  a 
severe  fright.  He  quickly  related  to  those  within  what  he  had 

they  re-  | 
ceived  his 
declarations 
with  such 
incredulity 
that  he  was 
sent  again 
for  the  cows 
under  a 
penalty  of  a 
flogging  if 
he  did  not 
bring  them 
in  speedily. 

A  second  time,  but  now  with  great  alarm,  the  boy  left  the  fort 
and  warily  felt  his  way  until  he  again  reached  the  woods,  when 
before  his  startled  gaze  burst  the  forms  of  a  hundred  or  more 
Indians,  who  were  evidently  approaching  the  fort  stealthily  with 
the  view  of  making  an  attack.  As  before,  the  little  negro  ran 
with  all  possible  fleetness  back  to  the  stockade,  crying  out  as  he 
entered:  "Indians!  Indians!  the  woods  are  full  of  them!  >; 
Instead  of  making  an  investigation,  the  master  seized  the  terror- 
stricken  boy  and  began  punishing  him,  when  another  cry  arrested 
his  attention,  but  this  time  it  was  a  woman's  screams,  who  had 
discovered  the  enemy  only  when  it  was  too  late  to  provide  a 
defense. 


OLD    FORT    MIMMS. 


168  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

THE    MASSACRE. 

The  Indians  managed  to  crawl  up  in  a  body  under  the  very 
port-holes  of  the  fort  before  their  presence  was  detected,  and 
but  for  an  accidental  closing  of  the  gate  they  would  have  gained 
access  to  the  inclosure.  As  it  was  they  rushed  up  with  rails  and 
pushed  the  ends  into  every  port-hole  on  one  side  except  those  in 
the  bastion,  which  was  so  high  as  to  be  out  of  their  reach.  Hav- 
ing thus  protected  themselves  from  possible  attack  on  one  side, 
the  Indians  fell  to  with  their  tomahawks  and  cut  down  several 
piles  composing  the  stockade.  The  men  rushed  between  two 
bastions  where  the  principal  arms  were  stored,  and  opened  fire 
upon  tue  Indians  with  telling  effect,  but  while  chopping  at  the 
stockade  though  many  fell,  others  stood  ready  to  take  the  place 
of  the  fallen  until  a  breach  was  effected  that  admitted  the  entire 
assailing  body.  A  frightful  scene  now  followed.  The  Indians, 
fully  one  hundred  in  number,  rushed  first  upon  the  women  and 
children,  who  had  not  gained  protection  in  the  bastions,  and  with 
knives  and  tomahawks  glutted  their  savage  ambitions,  sparing 
neither  sex  nor  age  until  the  ground  was  bloody  with  lifeless 
bodies.  When  the  defenseless  ones  were  thus  butchered,  the 
Indians  turned  their  attention  to  those  in  the  bastions.  Stacks 
of  straw,  gathered  from  the  cow- sheds,  were  piled  up  under  the 
well  seasoned  woodwork  and  then  set  on  fire,  while  the  Indians 
stood  about  with  rifles  and  tomahawks  ready  to  slay  any  that 
sought  escape.  The  men  within  their  fatal  prisons  fought  with 
desperation,  firing  whenever  opportunity  offered,  but  seldom  with 
any  effect,  as  the  bastions  had  no  openings  looking  out  upon  the 
inclosure,  except  a  door,  which  was  so  well  guarded  that  when- 
ever an  effort  was  made  to  shoot  from  it,  an  Indian  was  certain 
to  kill  the  person  who  made  the  attempt.  The  fire  was  not  long 
in  doing  its  deadly  work.  Those  who  intrusted  themselves  to 
the  chance  of  escape  by  boldly  breaking  for  liberty  were  quickly 
dispatched,  and  three  were  burned  to  death  with  the  consumed 
bastions. 

Of  the  thirty-seven  persons  within  the  fort  when  the  attack 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  169 

was  made  only  one  escaped,  and  this  was  a  boy  sixteen  years  old, 
who  contrived  to  climb  to  the  top  of  a  bastion  and  jump  off  on 
the  outside  without  being  observed,  and  to  gain  a  distance  of 
quite  three  hundred  yards  before  he  was  discovered.  When  the 
Indians  at  length  descried  him  two  of  them  went  in  pursuit,  but 
the  boy  made  directly  for  a  large  hollow  tree  that  had  fallen 
across  a  small  brook,  one  end  of  which  projected  under  a  steep, 
shelving  bank.  Having  so  much  the  start  of  his  pursuers,  the 
boy  leaped  over  the  bank  and  ran  along  in  the  water,  to  hide  his 
tracks,  some  little  distance,  until  he  came  to  the  fallen  tree,  the 
hollow  of  which  was  large  enough  to  admit  his  body,  though  the 
entrance,  which  was  at  the  butt,  was  not  easily  discovered.  Here 
he  took  refuge,  and  remained  for  twelve  hours  without  detection, 
though  he  heard  the  Indians  cross  the  brook  upon  the  very  tree 
that  concealed  him.  Almost  paralyzed  by  his  cramped  position 
so  long  maintained,  it  was  only  by  the  greatest  exertion  that  he 
was  able  to  crawl  out.  When,  at  length,  he  gained  his  liberty 
he  looked  towards  the  fort  and  saw  that  it  had  given  place  to 
smouldering  ruins,  which  told  to  him  what  had  been  the  ending 
of  the  attack  he  had  not  remained  to  see  concluded.  He  wan- 
dered about  for  a  time,  fearing  to  seek  any  neighbor's  house  lest 
he  might  come  upon  the  Indians,  who,  he  supposed,  would  lay 
waste  every  field  and  burn  every  cabin  in  the  settlement.  On 
the  second  day  after  his  escape,  however,  he  met  a  man  who  was 
then  on  his  way  to  the  fort,  not  having  heard  of  the  massacre. 
To  this  man  the  boy  told  his  story  and  very  soon  thereafter  the 
news  was  spread  over  all  Eastern  Tennessee  and  Northern  Ala- 
bama. 

CROCKETT    ENLISTS    AS    A   VOLUNTEER. 

Within  less  than  a  week  after  the  slaughter  and  burning  of 
Fort  Mirnms,  it  was  ascertained  definitely  that  the  savage  depre- 
dators had  been  Creek  Indians,  and  a  meeting  of  militia  was 
called  which  was  promptly  responded  to  by  nearly  every  man 
living  within  a  hundred  miles  of  where  the  butchery  had  taken 
place.  Crockett  was  among  the  first  to  volunteer  for  a  war  against 
the  Indians,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  at  the  place  of  rendez- 


170 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


vous,  notwithstanding  the  pleadings  of  his  wife,  wno  used  all  her 
influence  in  a  vain  effort  to  persuade  him  to  remain  at  home  and 
defend  it  against  possible,  and  even  probable,  attack.  Nor  is 
such  an  argument  easy  to  overcome,  for  Crockett,  like  other  set- 
tlers of  his  neighborhood,  lived  in  a  small  cabin  that  might  any 


SPREADING    NEWS    OF    THE    MASSACRE. 

time  be  set  upon  by  prowling  bands  of  Indians,  in  which  even* 
his  wife  and  children  would  certainly  fall  victims,  having  no  one 
to  defend  them.  It  was,  therefore,  with  many  misgivings  that 
Crockett  took  leave  of  his  family,  which  he  was  able  only  to  do 
by  a  heroic  consideration  of  his  duty  and  a  reflection  upon  the 
necessity  of  every  man  giving  his  services  in  such  an  hour  of 
peril,  by  which  action  alone  could  means  for  a  general  defense 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  171 

be  provided.  It  was  the  application  of  that  principle  which 
promises  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number. 

Winchester  was  the  appointed  place  of  muster,  which  was  quite 
ten  miles  from  Crockett's  cabin,  but  it  was  scarcely  more  than 
daylight  when  he  reached  the  rendezvous,  having  started  shortly 
after  three  o'clock  a.  m.  with  a  resolve  to  be  among  the  first  to 

o 

volunteer.  He  found  only  two  men  ahead  of  him,  but  by  nine 
o'clock  a  considerable  number  had  arrived,  and  at  high  noon  a 
Mr.  Jones,  who  afterwards  represented  the  district  in  Congress, 
addressed  the  assemblage  on  the  purposes  for  which  they  had 
gathered,  and  then  requested  those  who  desired  to  enlist  for  a 
sixty  days'  service  to  subscribe  their  names.  A  company  of 
ninety  men  was  thus  speedily  raised,  of  which  Jones  was  elected 
captain. 

The  men  were  then  instructed  to  repair  to  their  several  homes 
and  make  preparations  for  joining  their  company  again  on  the 
following  Monday,  which  day  was  appointed  for  entering  upon 
active  service.  This  interval  Crockett  employed  in  laying  in 
provisions  for  his  family  and  arranging  for  their  comfort  during 
his  contemplated  absence,  as  well  as  providing  himself  with  a 
few  articles  that  might  be  serviceable  in  camp  and  on  the  march. 

CROCKETT    IN   PERIL. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  reassembling  every  man  was 
prompt  at  roll-call,  and  the  company  at  once  took  up  their  march 
for  Beaty's  spring,  which  was  reached  in  due  season.  Here  they 
remained  for  two  days  awaiting  the  arrival  of  other  volunteers, 
twelve  hundred  of  whom  soon  collected  and  were  formed  into 
two  regiments.  While  encamped  here  awaiting  orders  from 
General  Jackson,  who  was  at  Nashville,  a  Major  Gibson  ap- 
proached Captain  Jones  with  a  request  for  a  detail  of  two  men  to 
accompany  him  across  the  Tennessee  river  and  act  as  scouts,  and 
also  as  spies,  to  discover  the  position  and  intentions  of  the  Creek 
Indians.  As  the  Major  wanted  men  expert  in  woodscraft  and  with 
the  rifle,  Captain  Jones  pointed  out  Crockett  as  the  man  pre- 
eminently qualified  for  such  service.  Major  Gibson  made  some 
objections  to  his  youthful  appearance,  but  finally  accepted 


172  STOKY  OF  THE  WILD   WES?. 

Crockett  and  also  left  it  to  him  to  select  his  companion,  and  an- 
other young  man,  named  George  Russell,  was  accordingly  chosen. 
On  the  following  morning  the  company  of  spies,  twelve  in 
number,  started  out  on  their  perilous  mission  headed  by  Major 
Gibson.  They  crossed  the  Tennessee  at  Ditt's  landing,  and  made 
a  march  of  nearly  fifty  miles  before  going  into  camp,  and  which 
brought  them  into  the  enemy's  country.  This  short  journey  cf 
a  single  day's  ride  served  to  inspire  the  company  with  such  con- 
fidence in  the  judgment,  bravery  and  woodscraf t  of  Crockett  that 
Major  Gibson  divided  his  small  force  into  two  parties,  one  of 
which  he  gave  in  charge  of  Crockett,  and  retained  command  of 
the  other  himself.  The  two  parties  now  separated  in  order  to 
make  a  circuit  of  a  dangerous  piece  of  ground,  with  an  under- 
standing that  they  should  meet  again  at  night  at  an  appointed 
place.  Accordingly,  Crockett  set  out  with  four  men  and  passed 
through  the  section  he  was  ordered  to  examine,  but  found  no 
traces  of  any  Indians.  He  reached  the  place  chosen  for  meeting 
Major  Gibson  shortly  after  nightfall  and  went  into  camp,  but  the 
Major  did  not  arrive,  nor  was  any  word  received  from  him  next 
morning.  Concluding  that  some  disaster  had  overtaken  the  other 
party  Crockett  set  out  for  a  Cherokee  town  twenty  miles  distant 
and  from  thence  to  a  place  where  he  learned  ten  Creek  Indians 
had  made  their  camp.  On  the  way  he  met  two  negroes,  who 
were  riding  at  great  speed,  evidently  alarmed  at  some  imminent 
danger.  Crockett  stopped  them,  and  asking  the  cause  of  their 
haste,  was  informed  that  nearly  two  thousand  Creeks  were  theo 
crossing  the  Coosa  river  at  the  Ten  Islands  to  attack  Gen. 
Jackson.  No  time  was  to  be  wasted  now,  and  it  became  a  ques- 
tion whether  Crockett  would  be  able  to  pass  the  flank  of  this 
large  army  and  get  back  to  the  camp  at  Beaty's  spring  to  apprise 
the  troops  there  of  their  danger.  His  men  were  panic  stricken 
at  this  news,  as  well  they  might  be,  for  they  were  fully  sixty-five 
miles  from  the  general  camp,  with  the  intervening  woods  fairly 
filled  with  Indians.  Besides  this,  no  news  had  been  received 
from  Major  Gibson,  and  they  naturally  supposed  he  had  been 
met  and  his  party  massacred,  as  they  themselves  must  SOOD  be. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  173 

Crockett  showed  no  signs  of  fear,  however,  and  encouraging  his 
men  in  every  possible  way,  he  set  out  and  traveled  all  night, 
passing  several  Indian  fires,  but  fortunately  meeting  none  of  the 
enemy.  By  desperate  riding  he  reached  camp  at  ten  o'clock  and 
immediately  reported  the  force  and  design  of  the  Indians  to 
Colonel  Coffee,  who  was  commanding.  The  Colonel,  however^ 
treated  his  report  with  great  indifference  and  made  no  prepara- 
tions to  receive  the  enemy.  Two  hours  later,  Major  Gibson 
returned  with  his  party  and  made  a  report  similar  to  that  o! 
Crockett's,  whereupon  the  Colonel  instantly  ordered  the  con*, 
struction  of  breastworks,  and  sent  an  express  with  all  possible 
expedition  to  General  Jackson,  who  was  now  at  Fayetteville, 
urging  him  to  come  to  his  relief  at  once.  The  attention  which 
Colonel  Coffee  paid  to  Major  Gibson's  report,  while  ignoring- 
that  of  Crockett's,  because  one  was  made  by  an  officer  and  the 
other  by  a  private,  sorely  nettled  the  latter,  who  accepted  it  as 
an  affront  too  great  to  ever  be  pardoned.  However,  General 
Jackson  responded  promptly  to  the  call,  and  by  a  forced  march 
through  the  night  arrived  at  the  camp  the  next  day,  but  his  men 
were  in  a  terrible  condition,  their  feet  being  so  badly  blistered 
that  for  a  week  they  were  incapable  of  active  service. 

It  fortunately  happened  that  instead  of  pushing  forward  and 
making  a  swift  attack  on  the  volunteers'  camp  at  Beaty's  spring, 
as  had  been  their  intention,  the  Indians  stopped  for  a  day  on  the 
way  to  commit  petty  pillage,  which  gave  time  for  Jackson's  re- 
enforcements  to  arrive,  and  also  for  Coffee  to  throw  up  such 
intrenchments  as  would  have  made  even  his  original  force  of  thir- 
teen hundred  men  invincible  before  the  number  of  Indians  that 
had  set  out  to  attack  him.  Seeing  the  preparations  made  to  re- 
ceive them,  the  Indians  drew  off  and  penetrated  the  wilderness 
of  Alabama. 

CROCKETT  BECOMES  HUNTER  FOR  THE  ARMY. 

Finding  that  the  Indians  had  retreated  Col .  Coffee  placed  him- 
self at  the  head  of  eight  hundred  volunteers  and  started  in  pur- 
suit, hoping  to  fall  in  with  one  or  more  of  the  smaller  bands  which 
he  knew  the  original  force  of  two  thousand  would  be  divided 


174  STOR1T   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

into.  They  crossed  the  Tennessee  at  Muscle  Shoals  and  prepared 
to  attack  Black  Warrior's  town,  an  Indian  village  that  occupied 
the  site  where  Tuscaloosa  now  stands.  But  the  scouts  found  the 
place  deserted,  its  inhabitants  having  evidently  made  a  hurried 
retreat,  as  there  were  several  fires  still  burning  within  the  village 
limits,  and  a  large  field  of  ripe  corn  was  left  ungathered  while 
several  cribs  contained  a  goodly  store.  The  corn  was  quickly 
appropriated,  the  cabins  pillaged  of  what  few  things  had  been 
left  behind,  and  then  fire  was  set  to  every  cabin  within  the 
place. 

Having  accomplished  this  much  by  way  of  retaliation  for  the 
destruction  of  Fort  Minms,  the  expedition  turned  northward 
again.  Though  grain  was  fairly  plentiful,  especially  after  the 
supply  gathered  at  Black  Warrior,  meat  was  extremely  scarce, 
the  want  of  which  induced  Crockett  to  request  permission  of  Col. 
Coffee  to  hunt  while  on  the  march.  The  application  was  readily 
granted,  under  an  implied  expectation  of  sharing  whatever  game 
might  fall  before  his  rifle,  and  Crockett  set  out  alone,  though 
keeping  a  sharp  eye  wide  open  for  lurking  savages  who  infested 
the  woods.  He  had  proceeded  scarcely  a  mile  when  he  found  the 
body  of  ;t  deer  partly  skinned,  but  so  recently  killed  that  it  was 
not  yet  cold.  Evidently  an  Indian  had  been  the  slayer  and  that 
he  was  not  far  off,  but  Crockett  took  chances  of  discovery  and 
hastily  flinging  the  carcass  upon  his  horse,  galloped  back  to  the 
army  and  shared  the  spoils  with  his  comrades. 
CROCKETT'S  FIRST  BATTLE. 

The  expedition  marched  back  to  the  Coosa  river  and  established 
a  fort  at  Ten  Islands,  from  whence  excursions  were  made,  and 
occasional  descents  upon  the  Indians  as  opportunity  offered, 
Scouting  parties  were  kept  out  constantly  and  the  appearance  of 
Indians  was  immediately  reported.  Several  Cherokees,  who  con- 
tinued friendly  to  the  whites,  were  engaged  to  act  as  spies  and 
guides  and  rendered  valuable  services.  One  of  these  spies  re- 
ported the  return  of  a  party  of  Creeks  to  a  village  about  eight 
miles  from  Ten  Islands,  which  they  were  then  fortifying.  Five 
hundred  volunteers  were  dispatched  against  the  place,  com- 


176  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

manded  by  a  Colonel  Cannon,  who  had  only  a  few  days  before 
been  promoted  from  captain  at  the  same  time  that  Colonel  Coffee 
was  advanced  to  the  position  of  general. 

Upon  nearing  the  village  the  force  was  divided  so  as  to  pass 
simultaneously  on  both  sides  of  the  town  and  thus  make  its  in- 
vestiture complete.  Having  surrounded  the  place  the  lines  were 
gradually  contracted  while  a  company  of  rangers  under  -Captain 
Hammond  was  thrown  out  in  front  to  bring  on  the  attack.  As  he 
swung  his  men  into  full  view  the  Indians  rushed  out  and  delivered 
their  fire  with  some  effect,  but  immediately  seeing  the  circle  that 
had  been  formed  around  them  they  ran  as  quickly  back  to  the 
cover  of  their  cabins.  The  lines  continued  to  close  up  without  a 
shot  being  fired,  which  so  alarmed  the  Indians  that  many  of  them, 
and  especially  the  squaws,  cried  out  for  quarter  and  desired  to 
surrender  themselves.  In  fact,  Crockett  states  that  he  saw  as 
many  as  seven  Indian  women  clinging  to  the  hunting-shirt  of  a 
single  volunteer  at  one  time.  Those  that  thus  freely  gave  them- 
selves up  were  given  protection  and  sent  back  to  the  rear  under 
close  guard ;  but  Crockett  noticed  a  party  of  forty-six  warriors 
taking  refuge  in  a  strong  and  large  log  house  admirably  con- 
structed for  defense,  and  so  reported  to  his  commanding  officer 
and  an  attack  was  ordered  to  be  made  upon  the  building.  As  they 
came  within  range  of  the  cabin  a  volley  greeted  them  but  with- 
out casualty,  at  the  same  time  a  squaw  ran  to  the  threshold  of  the 
closed  door  where,  with  much  deliberation  she  sat  down,  and  by 
the  aid  of  her  feet  drew  a  strong  bow  and  sent  an  arrow  whizzing 
into  the  ranks  of  the  volunteers.  It  struck  a  lieutenant  named 
Moore  with  such  force  as  to  pierce  entirely  through  his  body,  kill- 
ing him  almost  instantly.  The  act  was  such  a  brave  one  that  for 
a  moment  the  entire  attacking  force  of  whites  was  rendered  inac- 
tive by  their  surprise,  but  soon  rallying,  the  daring  squaw  fell 
dead  with  twenty-three  bullet  wounds  in  her  body.  She  had 
courted  and  received  such  death  marks  as  only  heroes  may 
wear. 

So  bitter  was  the  revenge  felt  for  Moore's  death  that  a  terrible 
fate  was  prepared  for  those  within  the  cabin.  Gradual  ap- 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  177 

preaches  were  made  behind  portable  barriers  until  the  house  was 
reached  when  the  door  was  barred  against  possibility  of  escape 
and  the  building  then  fired.  The  screams  of  those  within  were 
frightful  to  hear,  and  well  might  soften  a  hard  heart,  but  the 
volunteers  were  steeled  against  mercy  by  remembrance  of  atro- 
cious acts  so  frequently  committed  by  the  Indians,  and  the  entire 
forty-six  were  suffered  to  burn  to  death.  While  the  building 
was  burning  many  squaws  and  their  children  were  shot  down. 
Of  this  holocaust  and  massacre  Crockett  himself  wrote  as  follows  : 
"  We  now  shot  them  down  like  dogs;  and  then  set  the  house  on 
fire  and  burned  it  up  with  the  forty-six  warriors  in  it.  I  recol- 
lect seeing  a  boy  who  was  shot  down  near  the  house.  His  arm 
and  thigh  was  broken,  and  he  was  so  near  the  burning  house  that 
the  grease  was  stewing  out  of  him.  In  this  situation  he  was  still 
trying  to  crawl  along;  but  not  a  murmur  escaped  him,  though 
he  was  only  about  twelve  years  old.  So  sullen  is  the  Indian, 
when  his  dander  is  up,  that  he  had  sooner  die  than  make  a  noise, 
or  ask  for  quarters. 

"  The  number  that  we  took  prisoners,  being  added  to  the  num- 
ber we  killed,  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  eighty-six;  though 
I  don't  remember  the  exact  number  of  either.  We  had  five  of 
our  men  killed.  We  then  returned  to  our  camp,  at  which  our 
fort  was  erected,  and  known  by  the  name  of  FortStrother." 

This  first  engagement  in  which  Crockett  ever  engaged,  was 
called  the  battle  of  Tallushatchie,  and  was  fought  some  time  in 
November  following  his  enlistment. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  TALLADEGA. 

The  enlistment  of  volunteers  for  the  Creek  war  was  for  sixty- 
days,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  there  were  no  signs  apparent  of 
an  early  termination  of  hostilities  and  another  call  for  volunteers 
was  therefore  made,  while  nearly  all  of  those  who  first  entered 
the  service  promptly  re-enlisted.  The  battle  of  Tallushatchie, 
though  fought  more  than  two  months  after  the  muster  at  Win- 
chester, was  really  the  beginning  of  serious  fighting;  for  while 
the  massacre  at  Fort  Mimms  had  thoroughly  aroused  the  whites 


178  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

to  vengeance,  the  Creeks  had  evaded  measuring  their  strength 
with  the  settlers  until  goaded  into  action  by  the  slaughter  as  just 
described.  They  now  thirsted  for  a  bloody  retaliation  and  soon 
precipitated  the  famous  battle  of  Talladega,  as  we  shall  see. 

After  their  signal  victory,  the  volunteers  returned  to  Fort 
Strother  where  they  remained  inactive,  and  in  a  fairly  starving 
condition,  for  several  days.  So  great,  indeed,  was  thjeir  ex- 
tremity that  the  men  were  forced  to  exist  for  a  while  on  beef- 
hides  which  had  been  taken  some  time  before  from  cattle  slaugh- 
tered for  their  subsistence.  While  in  this  desperate  situation, 
and  with  little  expectation  for  an  early  relief  from  pressing  hun- 
ger, a  friendly  Indian  approached  the  guard  one  night  and  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  see  the  commandant.  He  was  conducted  to 
General  Jackson's  tent  where  he  remained  above  an  hour,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  he  came  out  and  disappeared.  Following  his 
departure  orders  were  issued  to  prepare  for  an  immediate 
march.  Within  a  short  while  the  army  of  nearly  eight 
hundred  men  was  put  in  motion  towards  Fort  Talladega  which 
was  garrisoned  by  a  hundred  or  more  Cherokee  and  a  few  friendly 
Creek  Indians. 

Upon  arriving  before  the  fort  it  was  found  invested  by  a  force  of 
eleven  hundred  Creeks  who  had  been  conducting  negotiations  with 

o         o 

those  within,  trying  to  induce  them  to  join  in  the  war  against  the 
whites,  and  threatening  extermination  in  case  they  refused.  The 
force  of  Indians  friendly  to  the  whites  had  asked  for  a  three 
days'  truce  in  which  to  consider  the  proposition,  which  being 
granted,  they  dispatched  a  runner  to  GeneralJackson  to  acquaint 
him  with  their  situation,  having  no  disposition  to  accept  the 
terms,  or  to  break  friendly  relations  with  the  whites.  This  was 
the  import  of  the  news  imparted  to  General  Coffee  by  the  Indian 
who  had  sought  the  interview. 

It  was  nearly  an  hour  before  sunrise  when  the  volunteers  came 
within  sight  of  Fort  Talladega,  but  their  approach  had  been  dis- 
covered by  Creek  scouts  who  hastened  back  and  gave  the  alarm. 
The  Indians  were  in  such  force,  however,  and  so  confidently  ex- 
pected aid  from  those  within  the  fort,  that  instead  of  retiring 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT. 


179 


they  fell  back  to  the  stockades,  and  under  cover  of  the  loop-holes 
from  the  cabins. 

As  the  volunteers  drew  near,  several  Cherokees  mounted  to 
the  top  of  the  fort  and  made  signs  against  a  further  advance,  but 
their  movements  not  being  understood,  two  of  the  bolder  ones 
leaped  down  and  ran  from  the  advancing  party  as  if  to  retreat, 
but  made  a  circuit  out  of  sight  of  the  Creeks,  and  contrived  to 
reach  Major  Russell  who  was  leading  the  van,  and  apprised  him 
of  the  position  of  the  enemy. 

TERRIBLE    SLAUGHTER   OF   THE    INDIANS. 

This  information  was  not  imparted  until  Russell  had  proceeded 
almost  abreast  of  a  party  of  Creeks  that  had  formed  an  ambush 
under  the  slope  of  a  bank  covered  with  a  dense  growth.  These 


BATTLE    OF    TALLADEGA. 


now  rose  up  and  delivered  a  volley  from  muskets  and  bows  that 
killed  five  of  Russell's  men,  but  instead  of  following  the  advan- 
tage which  this  movement  gave  them,  by  charging,  the  cowardly 
Creeks  fled  to  their  companions  who  were  massed  about  the  fort. 
General  Jackson,  who  had  command  of  the  troops,  seeing  the 
position  of  the  Creeks,  and  learning  how  completely  the  Chero- 
kees had  deceived  them,  now  adopted  the  tactics  that  had  suc- 
ceeded so  well  at  TaUushatchie,  Masking  his  design  by  falling 


180  STOET  OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

back  out  of  sight  of  the  fort,  he  divided  his  force  and  sent 
the  two  divisions  towards  the  right  and  left  flanks,  with  orders  to 
converge  on  the  lower  side  of  the  fort  that  a  circle,  or  hollow 
square,  might  be  formed  about  it.  This  movement  was  accom- 
plished so  expeditiously  that  the  Indians  did  not  discover  Jack- 
son's design  until  they  found  themselves  completely  surrounded. 
The  troops  now  charged  towards  the  center  and  massed  their 
lines  so  solidly  and  quickly  that  the  first  efforts  of  the  Creeks  to 
break  through  were  defeated,  more  than  fifty  of  their  number 
falling  dead  at  the  first  fire  of  the  volunteers.  As  the  Indians 
were  repulsed  on  one  side  they  rushed  back  towards  the  other, 
but  only  to  be  received  by  the  same  withering  fire. 

A  panic  now  seized  them,  and  they  ran  distractedly  from  one 
part  of  the  circle  to  another,  making  no  defense,  but  falling  like 
leaves  in  autumn.  This  slaughter  was  continued  until  four  hun- 
dred of  the  enemy  lay  dead  upon  the  field,  when  the  confusion 
became  so  great  that  the  Indians  massed  together  like  cattle 
stampeding  in  a  pen,  and  pushing  their  way  through  the  death- 
dealing  pile  by  sheer  force  of  numbers  escaped  to  the  woods. 

The  volunteers  lost  only  seventeen  men,  the  bodies  of  whom 
were  buried  in  one  grave  just  outside  the  fort. 

This  battle  was  fought  December  7th,  1813. 

GEN.  JACKSON  HAS   GOOD   REASON  FOB   SWEARING. 

After  this  fight  the  volunteers  remained  at  the  fort  for  several 
days,  when  the  weather  being  very  cold  and  provisions  so  scarce 
that  starvation  still  threatened,  it  was  proposed  that  a  disband- 
ment  be  ordered  but  with  instructions  to  reassemble  within  thirty 
days.  This  proposition  was  a  novel  one  for  soldiers  to  make, 
but  at  most  these  volunteers  were  only  irregulars,  considering 
the  fact  that  the  time  of  their  enlistment  had  expired  more  than 
two  months  before,  and  that  at  no  time  was  severe  military  dis- 
cipline enforced. 

General  Jackson  received  the  request  for  a  temporary  disband- 
ment  with  such  disfavor  that  he  declared  the  men  should  serve 
six  months,  if  necessary,  notwithstanding  that  the  term  for  which 
they  engaged  had  expired;  and  further,  he  denied  the  privilege 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  181 

of  even  a  furlough  to  any  man  in  the  command.  This  so  angered 
the  men,  suffering  as  they  were  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  that 
two-thirds  of  the  entire  force  resolved  to  go  home  regardless  of 
their  Genoral's  prohibition.  To  enforce  compliance  with  his 
orders,  against  the  threat  of  desertion,  he  stationed  a  company  of 
artillery  on  a  bridge  over  which  the  men,  if  they  deserted,  would 
be  compelled  to  pass,  with  orders  to  fire  on  them  if  they 
should  attempt  to  carry  out  their  resolve.  But  this  movement 
did  not  intimidate  them,  for  with  muskets  loaded  and  at  "  a 
ready,"  the  deserters,  numbering  about  eight  hundred,  took  up 
their  march,  resolved  to  fight  if  the  artillery  opened  on  them. 
For  a  time  it  looked  as  if  a  sanguinary  encounter  must  take 
place,  but  seeing  the  determination  of  the  deserters  the  artiller- 
ists gave  way,  being  in  fact  as  anxious  to  return  home  as  any  of 
their  comrades.  General  Jackson  was  furious  at  the  disobedience 
of  his  soldiers,  and  in  an  outburst  of  passion  declared  that  they 

were  the  d nst  volunteers  he  had  ever  seen ;   that  they  would 

volunteer  to  go  and  fight  and  then  at  their  own  pleasure  would 
volunteer  to  go  home  again  in  spite  of  the  devil. 


182 


STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 


CHAPTER    III. 

RESUMPTION   OF  HOSTILITIES, 


ARIOUS  reasons  have  been  assigned  for 
the  insubordination  just  described,  but 
whatever  may  have  been  the  true  cause  — 
and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  Crock- 
ett's explanation  is  correct  —  the  volun- 
teers were  not  disposed  to  shirk  their 
duty  because  of  the  dangers  that  threat- 
ened. This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
*  after  the  deserters  —  for  such  they  must 
be  called  —  had  spent  two  weeks  at  their 
several  homes,  they  voluntarily  returned 
for  re-enlistment  to  Fort  Deposit,  where 
a  reorganization  was  quickly  effected. 
Immediately  prior  to  the  second  muster 

General  Jackson  told  his  men  that  if  any  of  them  desired  to  quit 
the  service,  they  had  liberty  to  do  so,  but  those  who  wished  to 
continue  would  be  re-enlisted  for  a  term  of  three  months  more. 
In  proof  of  the  valor  and  self-sacrificing  disposition  of  those  who 
had  returned  to  the  fort,  it  is  said  that  less  than  a  dozen  dropped 
out  of  ranks  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  to  shirk 
further  service. 

Crockett,  after  the  reorganization,  was  attached  to  Major  Rus- 
sell's company  of  spies,  but  was  in  the  engagement  fought  on 
January  23,  1814,  known  as  the  battle  of  Enstichopco,  where 
Jackson  sustained  his  first  and  only  defeat. 

After  this  fight  the  whites  remained  inactive  for  a  considerable 
time,  and  a  disbandment  was  ordered,  the  term  of  the  second 
enlistment  having  expired,  nor  was  their  service  longer  required, 
for  though  the  Indians  had  won  a  victory  at  Enstichopco,  it  was 
a  barren  one,  and  they  retired  to  Georgia  and  Florida. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT. 


183 


Crockett  returned  home  and  began  farming,  but  he  followed 
this  peaceful  pursuit  only  a  short  while  when  the  British  threat- 
ened the  coast  towns,  and  it  was  resolved  to  send  an  army  to  the 
relief  of  Pensacola,  and  to  defend  other  places  along  the  gulf 
that  were  in  jeopardy.  To  raise  the  necessary  force  a  draft  was 
ordered,  and  one  of  Crockett's  neighbors  was  drawn  for  this 
enforced  service.  Being  averse  to  war,  upon  the  grounds  that  it 
involved  too  much  personal  risk,  he  offered  Crockett  one  hun- 
dred dollars  to  go  as  his  substitute.  This  offer  was  brusquely 
refused  with  some  pointed  advice  on  the  duty  which  every  man 


CREEK    FEAST. 


owed  to  his  country.  But  though  Crockett  refused  to  go  as  a 
substitute,  he  promptly  enrolled  himself  as  a  volunteer  and  was 
attached  to  Major  Russell's  company  of  spies. 

A   GROUND-HOG   CASE. 

The  company  that  Crockett  joined  consisted  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty  men,  and  being  in  special  service,  did  not  start  with 
the  main  army  on  the  march  to  Pensacola,  but  made  a  detour 
around  through  Alabama,  by  way  of  eld  Fort  Minims,  and  thence 
through  western  Georgia  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  what 
the  Creeks  were  doing  in  those  sections.  It  thus  happened  that 


184  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

Jackson's  army  reached  Pensacola  and  took  possession  of  the 
town  two  days  before  Major  Russell's  company  reached  there. 
Everything  being  quiet  along  the  Florida  coast,  and  the  fear  of 
an  attack  from  the  British  having  abated,  General  Jackson 
divided  his  force  into  two  divisions  with  one  of  which  he  set  out 
for  New  Orleans,  while  the  others,  comprising  two  battalions 
under  Majors  Russell  and  Childs,  and  with  Colonel  Blue  in  chief 
command,  was  sent  back  through  Georgia  and  Alabama  to  the 
Scamby  river  valley,  where  it  was  reported  large  parties  of 
Creeks  were  massing.  Crockett  was  with  this  latter  division  of 
the  army  and  continued  to  act  as  a  spy. 

When  Colonel  Blue  reached  the  Scamby  river  his  force  num- 
bered one  thousand  men,  including  one  hundred  and  eighty 
Choctaws  and  Chickasaw  Indians,  who  were  employed  principally 
as  guides.  To  feed  so  large  an  army  in  an  unsettled  country 
became  a  serious  matter,  which  increased  in  gravity  as  the  Indian 
villages  along  the  way  had  been  deserted,  and  what  they  had 
been  unable  to  remove  was  burned.  A  foraging  party  of  sixteen 
men,  headed  by  Major  Russell,  with  Crockett  among  the  num- 
ber, was  sent  out  with  the  hope  that  they  might  find  an  Indian 
camp.  After  traveling  nearly  a  score  of  miles  they  discovered 
two  Indians  that  were  out  hunting  their  horses.  These  they 
promptly  killed  and  cut  off  their  heads.  Soon  after  a  small  In- 
dian camp  was  found  on  an  island,  but  after  capturing  it,  ail  the 
booty  it  yielded  was  two  squaws  and  ten  children. 

Crockett  and  his  party  continued  wandering  about  in  the  wild- 
erness of  Northern  Alabama,  fighting  occasionally,  but  always 
suffering  for  food,  and  subsisting  much  of  the  time  on  roots,  or 
such  small  game  as  birds  and  squirrels,  and  even  these  were  ex- 
tremely scarce.  Of  the  desperate  extremity  of  himself  and  men 
at  this  time  and  the  means  taken  to  avoid  starvation,  Crockett 
thus  writes:  — 

"  And  now,  seeing  that  every  fellow  must  shift  for  himself,  I 
determined  that  in  the  morning  I  would  come  up  missing;  so  I 
took  my  mess,  and  cut  out  to  go  ahead  of  the  army.  We  know'd 
that  nothing  more  could  happen  to  us  if  we  went  than  if  we  staid, 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT. 


185 


for  it  looked  like  it  was  to  he  starvation  any  way;  we  therefore 

determined  to  go  on  the  old  saying,  root  hog  or  die.     We  passed 

two  camps,  at  which  our  men,  that  had  gone  on  before  us,  had 

killed  Indians.     At  one  they  had  killed  nine,   and  at  the  other 

three.     About  daylight  we  came  to  a      .    M  _     .. — : 

small  river,  which  I  thought  was  the 

Scamby;    but    we   continued   on    for 

three  days,  killing  little  or  nothing  to 

eat;   till,  at  last,  we  all  began  to  get 

nearly  ready  to  give  up  the  ghost,  and 

lie  down  and  die ;  for  we  had  no  pros- 
pect of    provision,  and   we  knew  we 

couldn't  go  much  further  without  it. 
*'  We  came  to  a  large  prairie,  that 

was  about  six  miles   across  it,  and  in 

this  I  saw  a  trail  which  I  knowed  was 

made  by  bear,  deer,  and  turkeys.     We 

went  on  through  it  till  we  came  to  a 

large  creek,  and  the  low  grounds  were 

all  set  over  with  wild  rye,  looking  as 

green  as  a  wheat  field.     We  here  made 

a  halt,  unsaddled  our  horses,  and  turned 

them  loose  to  graze. 

"  One  of  my  companions,  a  Mr. 
Vanzant,  and  myself,  then  went  up  the 
low  grounds  to  hunt.  We  had  gone 
some  distance,  finding  nothing,  when, 
at  last,  I  found  a  squirrel,  which  I  shot, 
but  he  got  into  a  hole  in  the  tree.  The 
game  was  small,  but  necessity  is  not  very 
particular;  so  I  thought  I  must  have 
him,  and  I  climbed  that  tree  thirty  feet 
high,  without  a  limb,  and  pulled  him 
out  of  his  hole.  I  shouldn't  relate  such 
small  matters,  only  to  show  what  lengths 
a  hungry  man  will  go  to  to  get  some- 
thing to  eat.  I  soon  killed  two  other  squirrels  and  fired  at  a  large 
hawk.  At  this  a  gang  of  turkeys  rose  from  the  cane-brake,  and 
flew  across  the  creek  to  where  my  friend  was,  who  had  just  be- 
fore crossed  it.  He  soon  fired  on  a  large  gobbler  and  I  heard  it 
fall.  By  this  time  my  gun  was  loaded  again,  and  I  saw  one  sit- 
ting on  my  side  of  the  creek,  so  I  blazed  away  and  brought  him 


A   GROUND-HOG-   CASE. 


186  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

down,  and  a  fine  turkey  he  was.  I  now  began  to  think  we  had 
struck  a  breeze  of  luck,  and  almost  forgot  our  past  sufferings  in 
the  prospect  of  once  more  having  something  to  eat.  I  raised  a 
shout  and  my  comrade  came  to  me,  and  we  went  on  to  the  camp 
with  the  game  we  had  killed." 

For  above  a  month  the  army  under  Colonel  Blue  did  nothing 
but  beat  about  the  country,  rarely  finding  any  Indians,  but  nearly 
always  on  the  poiut  of  starvation.  In  the  entire  campaign  less 
than  twenty  Indians  had  been  killed  and  little  damage  of  any 
kind  inflicted  on  the  enemy.  Nor,  in  the  meantime,  were  the 
Indians  doing  any  serious  harm,  though  they  continued  to  menace 
the  forts  and  settlers.  The  only  damage  wrought  by  the  Creeks, 
that  Crockett  observed  on  the  return  march  and  scout  from  Pen- 
sacola,  was  inflicted  on  the  family  of  an  Irishman  who  had  erect- ' 
ed  a  cabin  on  the  Scamby  river,  not  many  miles  from  Mimms. 

He  had  been  attacked  by  the  Indians  and  himself,  wife  and 
three  children  killed,  all  of  whom  had  been  scalped,  and  their 
bodies  stripped  and  then  left  on  the  gronnd  before  the  cabin 
door,  where  Crockett's  party  found  and  buried  them. 

The  command  gradually  worked  its  way  back  to  Fort  Strcther 
and  went  into  quarters.  News  of  Jackson's  victory  at  New 
Orleans  soon  reached  them  here,  and  also  the  report  of  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  Great  Britain0  General  Jackson  then  met  the  In- 
dians at  what  is  called  Hickory  Ground,  fifty  miles  from  Fort 
Williams,  and  concluded  a  treaty  with  them.  It  was  thus  the  war 
ended,  and  Crockett  returned  home  to  pursue  the  peaceful  tenor 
of  domestic  ways,  delighted  to  escape  further  privation,  especially 
when  that  which  he  had  endured  brought  him  sc  little  glory. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  187 


CHAPTER    IV. 

A  PHILOSOPHER    IN    AFFLICTION. 

URING  the  time  that  Crockett  was 
serving  as  a  volunteer  his  wife  man- 
aged, with  the  best  of  her  ability,  to 
keep  the  farm -place  in  order  and  at 
the  same  time  care  for  her  dependent 
family  of  three  children,  the  eldest  of 
whom  was  less  than  five  years  of  age. 
The  hard  work,  exposure  and  worry 
she  was  compelled  to  endure  made  serious  inroad  upon  her  once 
rugged  constitution,  and  when  Crockett  at  length  returned,  his 
wife  was  as  the  shadow  of  her  former  self.  Nor  did  her  health 
improve  under  the  good  care  of  her  husband,  but  continued  to 
grow  worse,  and  Crockett  saw  that  the  finger  of  death  had  touched 
her  brow.  Everything  possible,  in  a  section  of  country  where  so 
few  comforts  were  procurable,  was  done  to  relieve  her  sufferings 
and  prolong  her  life,  but  without  avail,  for  within  less  than  two 
months  after  Crockett's  return  she  died,  leaving  him  a  heritage 
of  profound  grief  and  the  responsibility  of  three  children  too 
small  to  appreciate  the  loss  of  a  mother.  In  this  hour  of  bitter 
tribulation,  when  the  world  appeared  to  frown  upon  his  efforts, 
and  fortune  had  turned  her  back,  Crockett  paused  to  reflect  upon 
what  fate  had  bequeathed  him.  At  first,  utterly  inconsolable  and 
therefore  incapacitated  for  the  duty  which  had  now  been  thrust 
upon  him,  he  soon  perceived  the  helplessness  of  his  condition 
while  nursing  his  grief,  and  boldly  facing  misfortune  acted  the 
part  of  a  philosopher  by  resolving  to  make  the  best  of  every 
circumstance.  One  of  his  brothers  was  married,  but  as  yet 
childless,  and  Crockett  engaged  him  to  make  his  home  with  him 
and  to  take  charge  of  the  three  orphans. 

CROCKETT'S  SECOND  MARRIAGE. 

For  some  time,  —  though  how  long  he  does  not  say,  —  Crockett 
remained  a  widower,  but  it  was  manifest  from  the  manner  in 


188  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

which  he  describes  his  situation,  that  he  was  anxious  to  marry 
again  within  a  short  while  after  his  wife's  death.  He  excuses  his 
longing,  however,  by  saying  that  while  his  brother  and  sister-in- 
law  acted  a  goodly  part  by  his  children,  yet  their  care  fell  short 
of  that  of  a  wife,  and  for  this  reason  he  resolved  to  marry 
again. 

There  was  a  widow  residing  in  the  neighborhood,  who  had  lost 
her  husband  in  the  Creek  war,  and  who  had  a  fair  patrimony, 
including  a  farm  and  considerable  stock ;  she  also  had  two  small 
children,  that  Crockett  thought  might  make  excellent  playmates 
for  his  own,  and  these  several  advantages  led  our  hero  to  aspire 
t<>  winning  the  widow  and  thus  possess  himself,  at  one  master 
stroke,  of  them  all.  But  Crockett  was  much  like  Miles  Standish, 
good  at  fighting,  but  a  coward  at  love-making.  When  he  first 
set  out  to  see  the  widow  he  acted,  as  he  frankly  admits,  like  a 
fox  preparing  to  rob  a  hen-roost,  and  was  so  sly  and  scared  that 
a  pooh!  would  have  sent  him  scampering  away  into  the  bushes. 
With  the  widow's  help,  however,  he  managed  to  get  on  finally, 
and  in  due  time  married  her. 

Though  his  second  marriage  secured  for  him  a  good  home  and 
well-stocked  farm,  this  fact  did  not  change  his  disposition  for 
roving,  and  in  the  following  fall  Crockett  set  out  with  three  of 
his  neighbors  to  examine  a  section  of  the  Creek  country,  in  north- 
ern Georgia,  with  a  view  to  settling  there.  He  had  not  proceeded 
far,  however,  when  one  of  his  companions  was  bitten  by  a  pois- 
onous snake,  and  was  left  at  a  wayside  cabin  to  the  care  of  an 
Indian  family.  Three  days  later  Crockett,  while  in  pursuit  of 
his  horses  that  had  broken  loose  and  taken  a  back  track  home, 
fell  very  ill,  and  but  for  the  kind  attention  of  two  Indians  must 
certainly  have  died.  For  several  weeks  his  life  seemed  to  hang 
by  a  thread,  and  report  went  back  to  his  wife  that  he  was  dead. 
Indeed,  one  man  affirmed  that  he  had  helped  to  bury  him.  But 
Crockett  recovered,  despite  these  rueful  reports,  and  after  an  ab- 
sence of  five  weeks  returned  home  to  the  wondering  surprise  of 
his  wife,  who  at  first  sight  believed  it  to  be  his  ghost. 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  189 

CROCKETT   AS    A   MAGISTRATE. 

Though  his  efforts  to  reach  the  Creek  country  had  been  futile, 
and  came  near  costing  him  his  life,  his  ambition  for  removal  had 
not  been  quenched,  and  a  year  later  he  set  out  for  the  Chickasaw 
country,  in  northern  Alabama,  this  time  taking  his  family  with 
him.  Upon  reaching  Muscle  Shoals  he  was  taken  with  chills  and 
fever  and  compelled  to  make  a  stop,  as  his  system  appeared  to 
be  so  saturated  with  malarial  poison  that  he  despaired  of  rally- 
ing, and  gave  himself  over  to  die.  For  several  weeks  he  con- 
tinued very  ill  and  when,  at  length,  he  recovered  he  was  so  well 
satisfied  with  the  country,  considering  himself  as  now  being  ac- 
climated, that  he  was  resolved  to  remain  in  the  vicinity  of  Mus- 
cle Shoals,  which  was  just  within  the  border  of  the  district 
purchased  from  the  Chickasaw  tribe.  He  accordingly  built  a 
cabin  on  Shoal  creek  and  there  lived  in  contentment  for  a  period 
of  three  years.  .By  this  time  the  country  gained  a  reputation  for 
great  fertility  and  salubrity,  which  attracted  so  many  settlers  that 
a  temporary  government  had  to  be  established.  Among  the  set- 
tlers was  a  large  number  of  disorderly  characters,  and  punish- 
ment of  offenders  could  only  be  provided  by  the  adoption  of 
arbitrary  measures  among  the  settlers  themselves,  for  there  were 
neither  courts  nor  law  officers  within  two  hundred  miles  of  the 
section. 

To  provide  for  the  public  peace  a  meeting  of  settlers  was  called 
at  which  magistrates  and  constables  were  appointed,  with  powers 
delegated,  by  the  passage  of  resolutions  and  a  vote  by  the  assem- 
blage, to  make  arrests  and  award  punishments.  There  was  nei- 
ther statute-book  nor  special  law,  the  magistrates  being  both 
court  and  jury,  from  whose  decisions  no  appeal  would  lie.  Nor 
did  these  original  settlers  bother  with  writs  and  warrants,  nor 
keep  so  much  as  a  court  record,  all  of  which  appeared  superfluous 
and  as  weights  on  the  nimble  heels  of  justice. 

Crockett. was  chosen  a  magistrate  and  right  well  did  he  fill  the 
office,  with  satisfaction  if  not  with  dignity.  He  had  a  constable 
that  was  competent  to  enforce  the  orders  of  the  court,  and  thus 


190  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

together  they  became  a  terror  to  evil  doers  and  lax  debtors  as 
well.  Crockett  held  his  court  in  one  room  of  his  double  cabin 
and  charged  the  State  neither  rent  nor  fuel ;  but  his  economical 
administration  did  not  stop  here,  for  costs  were  never  taxed  up 
from  one  term  to  another,  nor  was  any  expense  incurred  by  the 
State  in  prosecutions.  In  other  words,  when  complaint  was  made 
against  one  settler  by  another,  Crockett  would  send  his  constable 
to  bring  in  the  offender,  issuing  his  mandates  in  the  form  of  what 
he  called  "  verbal  writings."  In  serving  summons  of  this  char- 
acter it  very  frequently  happened  that  the  constable  was  com- 
pelled to  use  force  and  unless,  after  an  arbitrament  of  muscle, 
he  proved  himself  the  better  man,  the  return  was  something  to 
this  effect:  "  I  found  John  Jones  (the  delinquent)  and  ordered 
him  to  come  with  me  and  be  tried  before  your  honor,  but  to  this 
order  he  demurred,  whereupon,  I  seized  him  by  the  collar  and 
proceeded  to  enforce  the  order,  but  was  viciously  and  unfairly  at- 
tacked, bruised,  beaten  and  compelled  to  see  the  dignity  of  this 
court  insulted,  and  your  orders,  as  well  as  my  own,  set  at  de- 
fiance." 

It  was  very  seldom  that  such  a  return  had  to  be  made,  and  in 
all  cases  where  it  was  necessary,  Crockett  took  it  upon  himself  to 
bring  the  defendant  to  court,  which  it  was  convenient  to  do,  for 
wherever  Crockett  appeared  there  was  the  court  also.  It  was 
all  one  to  him  whether  the  defendant  submitted  to  a  fine  or  a 
thrashing,  either  of  which  penalties  Crockett  always  felt  himself 
able  to  impose.  Generally,  the  constable,  who  was  a  powerful 
fellow,  brought  the  offender  before  the  court,  sometimes  in  a 
peaceable,  submissive  way,  but  often  in  such  a  dilapidated  con- 
dition that  further  punishment  would  appear  like  persecution. 

Describing  these  curious  processes  of  his  court,  Crockett  thus 
writes:  "At  first,  whenever  I  told  my  constable,  says  I  — 
'Catch that  fellow  and  bring  him  up  for  trial,'  — away  he  went, 
and  the  fellow  must  come,  dead  or  alive;  for  this  we  considered  a 
good  warrant,  though  it  was  only  in  verbal  writing.  But  after  I 
was  appointed  by  the  assembly,  they  told  me  my  warrants  must 
be  in  real  writing,  and  signed:;  and  that  I  must  keep  a  book,  and 


LIFE    OF    DAVY    CROCKETT. 


191 


write  my  proceedings  in  it.  This  was  a  hard  business  on  me,  for 
I  could  just  barely  write  my  own  name;  but  to  do  this,  and  write 
the  warrants  too,  was  at  least  a  huckleberry  over  my  persimmon. 
I  had  a  pretty  well  informed  constable,  however,  and  he  aided 
me  very  much  in  this  business.  Indeed,  1  had  so  much  confi- 
dence in  him,  'that  I  told  him,  when  he  should  happen  to  be  out 
anywhere,  and  see  that  a  warrant  was  necessary,  and  would  have 


ENFORCING  ORDERS  OF  THE  COURT. 


a  good  effect,  he  needn't  take  the  trouble  to  come  all  the  way  to 
mo  to  get  one,  but  he  could  just  fill  out  one ;  and  then  on  the  trial 
[  could  correct  the  whole  business  if  he  had  committed  any 


error. 


CROCKETT  IS  ELECTED  TO  THE    LEGISLATURE. 


tVithin  five  years  after  Crockett  had  settled  on  Shoal  Creek, 
and  had  reformed  the  abuses  so  common  in  frontier  settlements, 
whore  might  and  right  are  ofteo  used  as  synonymous  terms,  his 


192  STORY   OP  THE   WILD   WEST. 

reputation  had  extended  so  far  and  favorably  that  he  was  elected 
colonel  of  a  militia  regiment  formed  for  protection  against  the 
Indians.  This  success  so  increased  his  ambition  that  soon  after, 
which  was  the  year  1821,  he  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
the  legislature,  to  represent  the  counties  of  Lawrence  and  Hick- 
man.  At  this  time  Crockett,  as  he  frankly  admits,  scarcely 
knew  what  the  word  legislature  meant,  nor  did  he  have  the  slight- 
est suspicion  of  what  a  member  of  that  body  was  elected  to  do. 
In  his  profound  ignorance  he  would  have  made  a  sorry  candidate 
but  for  the  natural  wit  and  good  judgment  with  which  he  was  so 
abundantly  endowed.  To  escape  criticism  he  wisely  adopted  the 
policy  of,  what  he  calls,  non-committal,  which  enabled  him  to 
look  wise  while  feeling  very  ignorant. 

Crockett's  opponent  was  really  a  very  able  fellow,  who  had 
studied  law,  preached  a  little,  and  was  a  fairly  good  fiddler,  but 
he  was  a  poor  hunter  and  worse  than  all,  couldn't  tell  a  story, 
and  was  too  stingy  to  buy  whisky  for  the  crowd  that  gathered 
at  the  political  meeetings.  Crockett  soon  learned  his  weak  point  s 
and  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  them.  A  big  hunt  and  frolic 
was  therefore  proposed,  upon  the  condition  that  the  two  parties, 
one  representing  Crockett  and  the  other  his  opponent,  be  chosen 
to  hunt  two  days,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  side  showing  the 
fewer  number  of  squirrel  scalps  should  pay  all  expense  of  a  din- 
ner and  country  frolic.  As  the  principals  headed  the  respective 
parties,  Crockett  easily  won  and  had  the  pleasure  which  such  a 
victory  gave,  in  addition  to  escaping  the  expenso  of  a  grand 
barbecue. 

Crockett's  opponent,  however,  thought  he  discovered  a  means 
for  turning  the  frolic  to  his  own  advantage  and  with  this  end  in 
view,  after  the  dinner  was  over,  proposed  to  debate  certain  pub- 
lic questions  with  his  opponent,  leading  off  first  himself  in  a. 
one  hour's  speech  that  was  no  mean  effort,  considering  his  sur- 
roundings. 

Crockett  was,  for  a  while,  completely  discomfited,  but  gather- 
ing courage  after  a  time,  mounted  a  stump  that  stood  before  a 
saloon,  where  the  people  had  assembled,  and  told  his  audience 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  193 

that  he  was  like  a  fellow  whom  he  met  some  weeks  before  bela- 
boring an  empty  barrel  which  had  been  dropped  from  some  pass 
ing  wagon  by  the  wayside.  Upon  being  asked  what  he  was 
doing,  the  fellow  replied  that  the  breath  of  the  bung-hole  con- 
vinced him  that  there  had  been  cider  in  that  barrel  some  time 
before,  and  he  was  then  trying  to  ascertain  if  some  did  not  still 
remain.  Crockett  likened  himself  to  the  empty  cider  barrel, 
telling  his  audience  that  he  contained  a  speech  a  short  time  be- 
fore, but  now  only  the  odor  of  one  remained,  so  he  invited  ali 
his  auditors  to  join  him  in  a  drink. 

This  story,  though  as  poor  as  the  horse  that  could  be  put  to  no 
better  service  than  a  fodder-rack,  served  its  purpose  admirably, 
and  brought  vociferous  applause  from  the  crowd,  the  majority  of 
whom  were  even  more  ignorant  than  Crockett,  but  who  could  ap- 
preciate an  invitation  to  drink  with  an  accomplishment  worthy  of 
a  more  refined  taste. 

Crockett  adopted  the  same  tactics  wherever  he  was  called  upon 
to  speak,  always  carefully  avoiding  expressions  that  might  betray 
his  ignorance,  and  filling  in  the  spaces  between  what  he  did 
know  and  what  he  only  surmised  with  witty  stories,  and  winding 
up  with  that  grand  peroration,  "  Let's  all  take  a  drink."  For- 
tunately for  him  cold  water  campaigns  were  not  known  in  his 
day.  When  the  result  of  the  election  was  finally  announced  it 
was  found  that  Crockett  had  beaten  his  competitor  more  than 
two  to  one.  Shortly  after  the  election  Crockett  made  a,  visit  on 
some  business  to  Pulaski,  where  he  met  Colonel  James  K.  Polk, 
who  had  also  been  elected  to  the  same  legislature.  It  unfortu- 
nately happened  that  the  two  were  introduced  in  a  large  crowd  of 
admiring  constituents,  and  both  were  expected  to  say  something 
in  acknowledgment  of  the  cheers  that  were  given  them.  But 
confusion  was  precipitated  by  Polk  thus  addressing  Crockett  im- 
mediately after  the  introduction,  "  Well,  Colonel,  I  suppose  we 
shall  have  a  radical  change  of  the  judiciary  at  the  next  session  of 
the  legislature?"  "Very  likely,  sir,"  Crockett  replied,  and 
then  shot  out  of  the  room  as  if  urgent  business,  just  called  to 


194  STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 

mind,  had  demanded  instantaneous  attention.  He  explains  this 
singular  conduct  in  his  autobiography,  as  follows:  — 

"  I  put  out  quicker,  for  I  was  afraid  some  one  would  ask  me 
what  the  judiciary  was ;  and  if  I  knowed  I  wish  I  may  be  shot. 
I  don't  indeed  believe  I  had  ever  before  heard  that  there  was  any 
such  thing  in  all  nature ;  but  still  I  was  not  willing  that  the  peo- 
ple there  should  know  how  ignorant  I  was  about  it." 

Crockett's  services,  as  a  member  of  the  legislature,  were  dis- 
tinguished chiefly  for  the  amusement  they  created  among  the 
other  members,  though  his  good  judgment  in  the  consideration  of 
proposed  bills  was  generally  commended,  and  no  one  was  held  in 
higher  esteem  for  social  qualifications. 

Though  never  essaying  the  role  of  an  orator,  in  which  ho 
would  have  immediately  appeared  glaringly  deficient,  it  must  net 
be  supposed  that  he  took  no  part  in  the  debates,  for  so  far  from 
this  being  the  case  he  made  himself  a  factor,  so  to  speak,  in  nearly 
every  question  that  was  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the 
House. 

Crockett  was  an  inimitable  story-teller,  and  had  always  at  hand, 
like  Lincoln,  a  good  story  to  illustrate  any  particular  point  he 
desired  to  make.  Whenever  he  arose  to  speak  he  was  certain  to 
receive  great  attention,  as  the  members  knew  that  they  would  be 
regaled  with  some  amusing  anecdote.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that  his  stories  have  not  been  preserved,  for  though,  unfortu- 
nately, they  were  most  often  punctuated,  or  rather  accentuated, 
with  profane  expressions  characteristic  of  the  frontier,  these  ob- 
jectionable sayings  might  be  omitted  without  seriously  impairing 
the  effectiveness  and  laughable  features  of  the  comic  illustration. 
But  with  very  few  exceptions  the  stories  have  been  forgotten, 
though  many  of  his  quaint  maxims  are  still  current  and  so  ap- 
propriate that  many  learned  men  do  not  disdain  to  quote  and 
apply  them. 

I  recall  to  mind  having  seen  in  print  two  anecdotes  related  by 
Crockett  during  the  time  he  was  a  member  of  the  legislature, 
which  are  worth  repeating,  though  no  one  can  hope  to  tell  them 
with  the  effect  produced  by  Crockett's  own  recital. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  195 

THE   STORY   OF    THE   THREE   MILLERS. 

I  do  not  remember  the  connection  or  the  question  in  debate 
that  brought  forth  these  anecdotes,  so  that  the  application,  which 
is  the  point  and  substance  of  the  story,  is  lost.  Said  he: 
* '  There  were  three  Dutch  millers  who  had  erected  as  many  mills 
in  close  proximity,  on  a  stream  in  Virginia.  Two  of  the  men 
were  brothers  named  George  and  Jake  Fulwiler,  and  the  other, 
who  was  mean,  close  and  eccentric,  and  withal  a  monomaniac  on 
the  subject  of  religion,  was  named  Henry  Snyder.  This  latter, 
who  was  a  curious  character  in  many  ways,  occasionally  imagined 
himself  to  be  Jehovah,  during  which  intervals  he  sometimes  held 
an  imaginary  court  and  summoned  before  him  for  judgment  all 
his  enemies.  It  was  but  natural  that  there  should  be  a  lively 
rivalry  between  the  three  millers  and  that  Snyder  should  hold  the 
two  Fulwilers  in  contempt,  and  thus  regarding  them  as  his  worst 
enemies  he  did  not  fail  to  bring  them  to  account  whenever  he 
chose  to  sit  in  judgment  as  Jehovah. 

Giving  full  play  to  his  imagination,  Snyder  called  his  court 
one  day,  and  assuming  that  his  two  enemies  were  before  him, 
began  to  try  them  for  their  offenses  in  this  wise :  — 

"  Shorge  Fulwiler,  come  forward  und  tell  what  you  haf  been 
doing  in  te  lower  worldt  since  you  built  tat  mill?  " 

"  Oh,  Lort,  I  cannot  tolt  you  all." 

"  Veil,  Shorge  Fulwiler,  I  like  to  know  if  you  never  took  more 
toll  like  you  had  a  rite  to  somedimes?  " 

44  Yes,  Lort;  somedimes,  vhen  der  vater  vas  low  und  mein 
stones  vas  dull,  I  take  a  leetle  too  much  toll." 

"  Veil,  den,  Shorge  Fulwiler,  you  must  go  to  der  left  mit  der 
goats." 

"  Now,  Shake  Fulwiler,  vill  you  please  coom  up  und  told  der 
coort  what  you  been  doing  in  der  lower  worldt?  " 

"  Oh,  Lort,  I  cannot  tolt  you  all." 

"  Veil,  Shake  Fulwiler,  I  like  to  know  if  you  never  took  more 
toll  like  you  had  a  rite  to  somedimes?  " 

"  Yes,  Lort;  somedimes,  vhen  der  vater  vas  low  und  mein 
stones  vas  dull,  I  take  a  leetle  too  much  toll," 


196  STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

"  Veil,  den,  Shake  Fulwiler,  you  must  go  by  der  left  mid  dem 
goats." 

"  Now,  den,  I  vill  try  Henry  Snyder  (himself)/' 

"  Veil,  Henry  Snyder,  please  tolt  me  what  you  been  doing  in 
der  lower  worldt  ?  ' ' 

66  Oh,  Lort,  I  cannot  tolt  you  all." 

"  Veil,  Henry  Snyder,  I  like  to  know  if  you  never  took  more 
toll  like  you  had  a  rite  to  somedimes?  " 

"Yes,  Lort  ;  somedimes,  vhen  der  vater  vas  low  und  mein 
stones  vas  dull,  I  take  a  leetle  too  much  toll." 

"  But,  Henry  Snyder,  vat  did  you  do  mit  der  toll?  " 

"  Oh,  Lort,  I  gives  it  to  der  poor." 

After  a  long  pause,  passed  in  solemn  meditation,  the  judge 
said :  — 

"  Veil,  Henry  Snyder,  you  may  go  to  der  right  mit  der  sheep, 
but  it  is  a  mighty  tight  squeeze." 

THE   IRON   HOT   IS    DIFFERENT   FROM  THE   IRON    COLD. 

Another  story  related  by  Crockett  was  intended  to  illustrate 
the  cupidity  of  a  fellow  legislator,  who  had  introduced  a  bill  for 
the  formation  of  a  new  county  and  had  fixed  the  boundary  lines 
so  as  to  promote  his  private  interests.  Preserving  his  exact  lan- 
guage, as  nearly  as  possible,  the  story  is  as  follows:  — 

"Mr.  Speaker:  Do  you  know  what  that  man's  bill  reminds 
me  of?  Well,  I  s'pose  you  don't,  so  I'll  tell  you.  Well,  Mr. 
Speaker,  when  I  first  came  to  this  country  a  blacksmith  was  a 
rare  thing.  But  there  happened  to  be  one  in  my  neighborhood. 
He  had  no  striker ;  and  whenever  one  of  the  neighbors  wanted 
any  work  done,  he  had  to  go  over  and  strike  until  his  work  was 
finished.  These  were  hard  times,  Mr.  Speaker,  but  we  had  to 
do  the  best  we  could. 

"  It  happened  that  one  of  my  neighbors  wanted  an  axe.  So 
he  took  along  with  him  a  piece  of  iron,  and  went  over  to  the 
blacksmith's  to  strike  till  his  axe  was  done.  The  iron  was  heated, 
and  my  neighbor  fell  to  work,  and  was  striking  there  nearly  all 
day,  when  the  blacksmith  concluded  that  the  iron  wouldn't  make 
an  axe,  but  'twould  make  a  fine  mattock. 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  197 

"  So  my  neighbor,  wanting  a  mattock,  concluded  that  he  would 
go  over  and  strike  till  the  mattock  was  done.  Accordingly  he 
went  over  the  next  day,  and  worked  faithfully.  But  toward 
night  the  blacksmith  concluded  his  iron  wouldn't  make  a  mattock 
but  'twould  make  a  fine  ploughshare. 

"  So  my  neighbor,  wanting  a  ploughshare,  agreed  that  he 
would  go  over  next  day  and  strike  until  that  was  done.  Accord- 
ingly, he  went  over  and  fell  hard  to  work.  But  towards  night 
the  blacksmith  concluded  that  his  iron  wouldn't  make  a  plough- 
share, but  'twould  make  a  fine  skeow.  So  my  neighbor,  tired  of 
working,  with  some  impatience  said:  *  Well,  then  a  skeow  let  it 
be,*  and  the  blacksmith,  taking  up  the  red-hot  iron,  threw  it 
into  a  tub  of  cold  water  near  him,  and  as  it  fell  in  the  iron  cried 
out  skeow. 

"  And  this,  Mr.  Speaker,  will  be  the  way  of  that  man's  bill 
for  a  new  county.  He'll  keep  us  all  here  working  his  schemes 
over,  and  finally  his  bill  will  turn  up  a  skeow;  now  mind  if  it 
don't." 

CROCKETT   BANKRUPTED. 

During  Crockett's  attendance  at  the  legislature  a  misfortune 
befell  him  by  which  he  lost  all  his  possessions,  including  the 
means  acquired  by  his  marriage.  He  built  a  large  grist  mill, 
that  was  run  by  water  power,  and  subsequently  added  to  it  a  dis- 
tillery and  powder  mill,  which  for  a  time  proved  very  profitable, 
being  the  only  mill  of  the  kind  within  a  radius  of  more  than  one 
hundred  miles,  and  thus  having  a  monopoly  of  an  immense 
trade.  An  early  spring  freshet,  however,  caused  Shoal  creek  to 
rise  so  rapidly  that  the  stream  became  a  roaring  river  and  swept 
down  with  such  impetuous  force  that  the  mill  and  all  its  contents 
was  dashed  into  pieces  almost  in  an  instant,  and  carried  away  so 
completely  that  after  the  flood  subsided  there  was  not  left  a  sign 
to  show  where  it  had  stood.  Crockett  had  exhausted  his  credit 
in  building  the  mill  and  its  destruction  left  him  burdened  with 
debts  which  would  bring  him  to  the  limit  of  poverty  to  pay. 
Nevertheless,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  everything  that  re- 
mained to  him  to  discharge  his  obligations,  parting  even  with  his 


STORY    OF   THE   WILD  WEST. 

household  effects  and  reserving  not  so  much  as  the  little  cabin 
that  gave  shelter  to  his  family. 

Upon  adjournment  of  the  legislature  Crockett  moved  his  family 
into  a  mnall  house,  which  he  rented  from  one  of  his  creditors, 
and  taking  his  eldest  son  and  a  borrowed  horse,  he  set  out  in 
search  of  a  desirable  place  in  which  to  settle.  He  went  on  to 
Obion  river  and  chosa  a  spot  on  its  bank  to  erect  another  cabin. 
The  place  was  a  more  complete  wilderness  than  any  he  had 
before  settled  in,  but  this  fact  he  considered  to  his  advantage, 
for  the  counhy  abounded  with  game,  which  afforded  a  means  for 
subsistence  that  he  would  not  have  possessed  had  he  remained  at 
Shoal  creek.  Indians,  too,  were  numerous,  but  they  were 
friendly  and  willing  to  extend  a  helping  hand. 

It  fortunately  happened  that  a  boat  came  by  on  its  passage  up 
the  river,  the  first,  too,  that  had  succeeded* in  advancing  so  far, 
as  it  was  a  trip  made  with  the  view  of  determining  how  far  the 
stream  was  navigable.  The  boat  landed  to  aw  ait  a  rise  in  the 
river  and  as  help  was  scarce,  the  captain  engaged  Crockett  and 
his  son  to  ship  with  him  as  roustabouts  to  unload  the  cargo  he 
had  undertaken  to  transport  to  a  place  called  McLemc^e's  bluff. 
In  payment  for  this  service  the  captain  and  the  men  t\at  were 
with  him  helped  Crockett  put  up  a  cabin,  and  also  gave  hirx.  some 
flour  and  ether  provisions  so  as  to  enable  him  to  begin  L^use- 
keeping  in  a  respectable  and  comfortable  manner. 

The  boat  was  delayed  at  Crockett'?  landing  several  days  be.Vvre 
the  expected  rise  came,  which  time  Crockett  employed  in  hunV 
ing  and  killed  such  a  number  of  elk  as  supplied  meat  for  the  crew 
during  the  remainder  of  the  trip. 

Crockett  served  the  captain  faithfully  and  on  returning  from 
McLemore's  bluff,  where  the  cargo  had  been  safely  landed,  he 
made  a  small  clearing  and  planted  a  little  patch  of  corn,  after 
which  he  went  back  to  Shoal  creek  for  his  family.  Upon  arriv- 
ing there  he  received  notice  of  a  called  session  of  the  legislature, 
which  he  attended  and  then  gathering  the  few  things  he  had 
together  set  out  for  his  new  home  on  the  Obion,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  distant. 


LIFE   OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  199 

Nothing  had  been  disturbed  during  his  absence  and  though  the 
corn  had  received  no  attention  it  yielded  a  surprisingly  large  crop. 
This  being  gathered  Crockett  resolved  to  go  on  a  hunt  to  lay  in 
a  supply  of  meat  for  the  winter.  It  was  about  Christmas  when 
he  formed  this  resolution,  but  before  putting  his  resolve  into  ex- 
ecution he  discovered  that  his  supply  of  powder  was  so  nearly 
exhausted  that  to  begin  a  hunt  so  poorly  provided  for  must  end  in 
failure.  His  brother-in-law  had  settled,  a  few  months  before,  at 
a  place  six  miles  west  of  where  Crockett  lived,  and  had  brought  a 
keg  of  powder  with  him  for  Crockett  which  had  not  yet  been 
delivered ;  recalling  to  mind  this  fact  the  latter  now  determined 
to  bring  the  powder  home  though  a  journey  to  his  brother-in-law 
would  necessitate  the  crossing  of  two  streams  not  yet  sufficiently 
bridged  with  ice  to  admit  of  a  safe  passage.  Crockett  thus  de- 
scribes this  remarkable  trip,  which  I  quote  because  it  serves  to 
show  the  extraordinary  nerve  and  resolution  of  the  man,  and 
enables  us  to  discover  how  he  won  his  way  from  a  position  most 
lowly,  to  that  which  elicited  the  admiration  of  all  his  country- 
men: — 

A  JOURNEY  OF  EXTRAORDINARY  HARDSHIPS. 

*'  The  snow  was  about  four  inches  deep  when  I  started;  and 
when  I  got  to  the  water,  which  was  only  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  off,  it  looked  like  an  ocean.  I  put  in,  and  waded  on  till  I 
come  to  the  channel,  when  I  crossed  that  on  a  high  log.  I  then 
took  water  again,  having  my  gun  and  all  my  hunting  tools  along, 
and  waded  till  I  came  to  a  deep  slough,  that  was  wider  than  the 
river  itself.  I  had  crossed  it  often  on  a  log;  but  behold,  when 
I  got  there,  no  log  was  to  be  seen.  I  knowed  of  an  island  in  the 
slough,  and  a  sapling  stood  on  it  close  to  the  side  of  that  log, 
whicn  W3,~-  now  entirely  under  water.  I  knowed  further,  that  the 
water  was  about  eight  or  ten  feet  deep  under  the  log,  and  I 
judged  it  to  be  about  three  feet  deep  over  it.  After  studying  a 
litl'e  what  I  should  do,  I  determined  to  cut  a  forked  sapling, 
which  stood  oear  me,  ac  as  to  lodge  it  against  the  one  that  stood 
on  the  (and,  in  wl-icn  1  succeeded  very  well. .  I  then  cut  me  a 
pole,  aij-i  then  crawled  along  on  my  sapling  till  I  got  to  the  one 
it  was  .odged  against,  whloh  was  about  six  feet  above  the  water. 
I  then  felt  about  with  my  pole  till  I  found  the  log,  which  was 


200  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST.  , 

just  about  as  deep  under  the  water  as  I  had  judged.  I  now 
crawled  back  and  got  my  gun,  which  I  had  left  at  the  stump  of 
the  sapling  I  .had  cut,  and  again  made  my  way  to  the  place  of 
lodgment,  and  then  climbed  down  the  other  sapling  so  as  to  get 
on  the  log.  I  next  felt  my  way  along  with  my  feet,  in  the 
water,  about  waist  deep,  but  it  was  a  mighty  ticklish  business. 
However,  I  got  over,  and  by  this  time  I  had  very  little  feeling 
in  my  feet  and  legs,  as  I  had  been  all  the  time  in  the  water,  ex- 
cept what  time  I  was  crossing  the  high  log  over  the  river,  and 
climbing  my  lodged  sapling. 

"  I  went  but  a  short  distance  before  I  came  to  another  slough, 
over  which  there  was  a  log,  but  it  was  floating  on  the  water.  1 
thought  I  could  walk  it,  and  so  I  mounted  on  it;  but  when  I  had 
got  about  the  middle  of  the  deep  water,  somehow  or  somehow - 
else,  it  turned  over,  and  in  I  went  up  to  my  head.  I  waded  out 
of  this  deep  water,  and  went  ahead  till  I  came  to  the  highland 
where  I  stopp'd  to  pull  off  my  wet  clothes,  and  put  on  the  others, 
which  I  had  held  up  with  my  gun,  above  the  water,  when  I  fell 
in.  I  got  them  on,  but  my  flesh  had  no  feeling  in  it,  1  was  so 
cold.  I  tied  up  the  wet  ones,  and  hung  them  up  in  a  bush.  1 
now  thought  I  would  run,  so  as  to  warm  myself  a  little,  but  1 
couldn't  raise  a  trot  for  some  time;  indeed,  I  couldn't  step 
more  than  half  the  length  of  my  foot.  After  a  while  I  got  bet- 
ter, and  went  on  five  miles  to  the  house  of  my  brother-in-law, 
having  not  even  smelt  fire  from  the  time  I  started.  I  got  there 
late  in  the  evening,  and  he  was  much  astonished  at  seeing  me  at 
such  a  time.  I  staid  all  night,  and  the  next  morning  was  mosK 
piercing  cold,  and  so  they  persuaded  me  not  to  go  home  thai 
day.  I  agreed,  and  turned  out  and  killed  him  two  deer;  but 
the  weather  still  got  worse  and  colder,  instead  of  better.  I 
staid  that  night,  and  in  the  morning  they  still  insisted  I  couldn't 
get  home.  I  knowed  the  water  would  be  frozen  over,  but  not 
hard  enough  to  bear  me,  and  so  I  agreed  to  stay  that  day.  I 
went  out  hunting  again,  and  pursued  a  big  he-bear  all  day,  but 
didn't  kill  him.  The  next  morning  was  bitter  cold,  but  I 
knowed  my  family  was  without  meat,  and  I  determined  to  get 
home  to  them,  or  die  a-trying. 

"  I  took  my  keg  of  powder  and  all  my  hunting  tools,  and  cut 
out.  When  I  got  to  the  water,  it  was  a  sheet  of  ice  as  f  "*•  as  I 
could  see.  I  put  on  to  it,  but  hadn't  got  far  before  it  broke 
through  with  me ;  and  so  I  took  out  my  tomahawk,  and  broke  my 
way  along  before  me  for  a  considerable  distance.  At  last  1  got 
to  where  the  ice  would  bear  me  for  a  short  distance,  and  I 


LIFE   OF   DAV'Y   CROCKETT. 


201 


mounted  on  it,  and  went  ahead;  but  it  soon  broke  in  again,  and 
I  had  to  wade  on  till  I  came  to  my  floating  log.  I  found  it  so  tight 
this  time,  that  I  know'd  it  couldn't  give  me  another  fall,  as  it 
was  frozen  in  with  the  ice.^  I  crossed  over  it  without  much  diffi- 
culty, and  worked  along  till  I  got  to  my  lodged  sapling,  and  my 
log  under  the  water.  The  swiftness  of  the  current  prevented  the 
water  from  freezing  over  it,  and  so  I  had  to  wade,  just  as  I  did 
when  I  crossed  it  before.  When  I  got  to  my  sapling,  I  left  my 


CROCKETT  BREAKING  HIS   WAY   THROUGH  THE  ICE. 

gun,  and  climbed  out  with  my  powder-keg  first,  and  then  went 
back  and  got  my  gun.  By  this  time  I  was  nearly  frozen  to 
death,  but  I  saw  all  along  before  me,  where  the  ice  had  been 
fresh  broke,  and  I  thought  it  must  be  a  bear  straggling  about  in 
the  water.  I  therefore  fresh  primed  my  gun,  and,  cold  as  I 
was,  I  was  determined  to  make  war  on  him,  if  we  met.  But  I 
followed  the  trail  till  it  led  me  home,  and  I  then  found  it  had 
been  made  by  my  young  man  that  lived  with  me,  who  had  been 
sent  by  my  distressed  wife  to  see,  if  he  could,  what  had  become 
of  me,  for  they  all  believed  that  I  was  dead.  When  I  got  home, 
I  wasn't  quite  dead,  but  mighty  nigh  it ;  but  had  my  powder,  and 
that  was  what  I  went  for." 


202 


6TOR*  otf  THE  WILD  WEST. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A    GREAT    BEAR   HUNT. 

CAVING  first  provided  his  family  with 
such  necessaries  as  they  might  need 
during  his  absence,  which  he  sup- 
posed would  be  for  several  days, 
Crockett  set  out  with  his  trusty  rifle 
and  three  equally  trusty  dogs  for  a 
hunt.  Two  young  men  started  out 
with  him,  but  they  sought  no  larger 
game  than  turkeys,  while  Crockett 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  anything 
less  than  bear,  hence  they  soon  sep- 
arated, but  not  until  they  had  agreed 
upon  certain  signals  that  might  be 
used  to  summon  each  other  together 
in  case  assistance  was  needed. 

A  very  heavy  rain  had  fallen  during  the  preceding  night  which 
afterwards  turned  to  sleet  and  covered  the  ground  with  ice  that 
made  traveling  on  foot  precarious;  but  notwithstanding  this 
Crockett  pushed  on  alone  and  followed  along  the  Obion  banks 
for  a  distance  of  six  miles  before  discovering  any  traces  of  game. 
The  first  living  thing  that  greeted  his  sight  was  a  large  flock  of 
turkeys,  two  of  which  he  shot,  but  he  had  proceeded  only  a  short 
distance  further  when  his  dogs  threw  their  heads  into  the  air  and, 
after  sniffing  a  moment,  broke  away  evidently  on  the  scent  of 
some  large  game.  Crockett  followed  after  as  rapidly  as  his  now 
fatigued  condition  would  allow,  until  he  found  the  dogs  barking 
up  a  tree  in  which  some  kind  of  game  had  undoubtedly  taken 
refuge  a  short  time  before,  but  had  now  moved  to  other  quar- 
ters. The  dogs  tarried  only  a  moment,  when  they  ran  on  and 
barked  up  another  tree  which  the  game  had  also  abandoned,  and 
thus  continued  their  false  alarms  at  half  a  dozen  trees  until 
Crockett's  patience  was  quite  exhausted,  as  his  dogs  appeared  to 
be  indulging  a  habit  no  less  reprehensible  in  dogs  than  in  men, 


LIFE  OF   DAVY   CROCKETT. 


203 


that  of  lying.  But  as  they  changed  positions  rapidly  and  kept 
sniffing  the  air,  Crockett  still  had  a  suspicion,  though  a  faint  one, 
that  the  dogs  had  been  unable  to  keep  the  scent  on  account  of 
the  fall  of  sleet,  and  so  kept  on  after  them  until  he  came  to  the 
edge  of  a  prairie,  when  upon  his  astonished  gaze  burst  a  vision 
that  caused  him  to  halt  with  a  feeling  of  trepidation.  Right  be- 
fore the  dogs,  that  had  now  caught  sight  of  the  game,  but  were 
afraid  to  attack  it,  was  a  bear  of  ponderous  proportions,  larger 
than  any  the  courageous  hunter  had  ever  before  seen. 

Hanging  his  two  turkeys  upon  a  sapling,  Crockett  looked  to 
the  priming  of  his  gun,  and  then  dashed  after  the  bear  that  was 


now  approaching  the  skirts  of  the  prairie,  which  was  lined  with 
a  dense  thicket,  and  into  which  the  game  disappeared  before 
Crockett  could  get  within  gun  shot.  Of  the  adventure  that  fol- 
lowed he  thus  writes :  — 

"  In  a  little  time  I  saw  the  bear  climbing  up  a  large  black  oak 
tree,  and  I-  crawled  on  until  I  got  within  about  eighty  yards  of 
him.  He  was  setting  with  his  breast  to  me,  and  so  I  put  fresh 
priming  »in  my  gun  and  fired  at  him.  At  this  he  raised  one  of 
his  paws  and  snorted  loudly.  I  loaded  again  as  quick  as  1  could, 
and  fired  as  near  the  same  place  in  his  breast  as  possible.  At 
the  crack  of  my  gun  here  he  came  tumbling  down ;  and  the  mo- 
ment he  touched  the  ground,  I  heard  one  of  my  best  dogs  cry 


204  STOR?  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

out.  I  took  uny  tomahawk  in  one  hand,  and  my  big  butchor- 
knife  in  the  other,  and  ran  up  within  four  or  five  paces  of  him, 
at  which  he  let  my  dog  go  and  fixed  his  eyes  on  me.  I  got  back 
in  all  sorts  of  a  hurry,  for  I  knowed  if  he  got  hold  of  me  he 
would  hug  me  altogether  too  close  for  comfort.  I  went  to  my 
gun  and  hastily  loaded  her  again,  and  shot  him  the  third  time, 
which  killed  him  good." 

AGAIN    A    CANDIDATE    FOR   THE   LEGISLATURE. 

Game  was  so  abundant  that  from  natural  inclination  Crock- 
ett continued  to  hunt,  and  by  killing  coons,  elk,  deer  and  bear 
that  winter  he  collected  a  large  number  of  peltries  which  in 
February  he  carried  to  a  little  town  that  had  sprung  up  in  the 
year  Crockett  settled  on  the  Obion,  forty  miles  east  of  his  cabin, 
called  Jackson.  Here  he  disposed  of  his  peltries  in  exchange  for 
coffee,  sugar,  powder,  lead  and  salt. 

While  at  Jackson  he  met  some  of  his  old  comrades  with  whom 
he  had  served  in  the  Creek  war ;  he  was  also  p  resented  to  three 
candidates  for  the  legislature,  one  of  whom,  Dr.  Butler,  was  a 
nephew  of  General  Jackson .  As  was  the  custom  among  frontiers- 
men who  thus  casually  met,  the  party  drank  several  rounds  to 
the  health  of  each  other,  and  in  the  course  of  their  convivial  en- 
tertainment some  one  suggested  that  Crockett  should  also  offer 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature,  but  to  this  proposal  he 
objected,  upon  the  grounds  that  he  had  no  further  desire  for  office, 
besides  he  lived  forty  miles  from  the  nearest  settlement  and  could 
not,  therefore,  conduct  a  canvass. 

Crockett  thought  no  more  about  the  proposition  to  run  him  for 
the  legislature  and  returned  home  to  renew  his  hunt  for  peltries. 
However,  two  weeks  after  the  meeting  at  Jackson,  a  gentleman 
came  by  Crockett's  house  and  lodged  there  over  night.  Sometime 
during  the  evening  he  drew  a  newspaper  from  his  pocket  and 
( began  reading,  when  to  his  surprise  he  saw  an  announcement  of 
^Crockett's  candidacy  and  in  such  language  too  that  it  would  have 
been  more  difficult  to  explain  the  mistake  than  to  make  the  can- 
vas, so  Crockett  resolved  to  offer  himself  at  the  next  fall  elec- 
tion. Accordingly,  he  hired  a  man  to  work  the  farm  in  his  place 
and  started  out  electioneering. 


LIFE  OF  DAVY  CROCKETT.  205 

THE  BEAR  HUNTER  TO  THE  FRONT. 

So  rapidly  had  Crockett's  reputation  spread  even  among  the 
sparse  settlements,  that  he  had  not  lived  six  months  on  theObion 
before  every  one  within  a  hundred  miles  were  familiar  with  his 
name  and  had  heard  what  a  capital  story-teller  and  bear-hunter 
he  was.  This  was  so  much  in  his  favor  that  he  only  needed  to 
make  a  show  of  himself  to  secure  votes.  The  three  who  had  pre- 
viously announced  themselves  as  candidates,  upon  hearing  that 
Crockett  was  in  the  field,  met  at  Jackson  and  cast  lots  to  decide 
who  should  withdraw  from  the  race  and  which  one  remain  to 
contest  the  election  with  Crockett.  The  choice  fell  on  Dr.  But- 
ler, who  was  by  far  the  ablest  and  most  popular  of  the  three,  be- 
sides, his  connection  with  Jackson  gave  him  no  small  prestige. 
Realizing  this,  and  supposing  that  the  opposition  he  now  had  to 
contend  with  was  of  the  feeblest  character,  he  made  many  con- 
temptuous allusions  to  Crockett,  calling  him  the  * i  bear  hunter ' ' 
and  "  the  man  from  the  cane." 

Crockett  thus  describes  the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  his 
electioneering,  which  is  original  enough  to  well  merit  pre- 


serving : 


"At  this  time  Colonel  Alexander  was  a  candidate  for  Congress, 
and  attending  one  of  his  public  meetings  one  day,  I  walked  to 
where  he  was  treating  the  people,  and  he  gave  me  an  introduction 
to  several  of  his  acquaintances,  and  informed  them  that  I  was  out 
electioneering.  In  a  little  time,  my  competitor,  Doctor  Butler, 
came  along;  he  passed  by  without  noticing  me,  and  I  supposed 
he  did  not  recognize  me.  But  I  hailed  him,  as  I  was  for  all  sorts 
of  fun;  and  when  he  turned  to  me,  I  said  to  him,  '  Well,  doctor, 
I  suppose  they  have  weighed  you  out  to  me;  but  I  should  like  to 
know  why  they  fixed  your  election  for  March  instead  of  August? 
This  is/  said  I,  '  a  branfire  new  way  of  doing  business,  if  a  cau- 
cus is  to  make  a  representative  for  the  people  I '  He  now  dis- 
covered who  I  was,  and  cried  out,  '  D — n  it,  Crockett,  is  that 
you?  *  <  Be  sure  it  is,'  said  I,  '  but  I  don't  want  it  understood 
that  I  have  come  electioneering.  I  have  just  crept  out  of  the 
cane,  to  see  what  discoveries  I  could  make  among  the  white 
folks.'  I  told  him  that  when  I  set  out  electioneering,  I  would  go 
prepared  to  put  every  man  on  as  good  a  footing  when  I  left  him 


206  8TORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

as  I  found  him  on.  I  would  therefore  have  me  a  large  buckskin 
hunting-shirt  made,  with  a  couple  of  pockets  holding  about  a 
peck  each ;  and  that  in  one  I  would  carry  a  great  big  twist  of 
tobacco,  and  in  the  other  my  bottle  of  liquor ;  for  I  knowed  when 
I  met  a  man  and  offered  him  a  dram,  he  would  throw  out  his 
quid  of  tobacco  to  take  one,  and  after  he  had  taken  his  horn,  I 
would  out  with  my  twist,  and  give  him  another  chew.  And  in 
this  way  he  would  not  be  worse  off  than  when  I  found  him  ;  and 
I  would  be  sure  to  leave  him  in  a  tirstrate  good  humor.  He  said 
I  could  beat  him  electioneering  all  hollow.  I  told  him  I  would 
give  him  better  evidence  of  that  before  August,  notwithstanding 
he  had  many  advantages  over  me,  and  particularly  in  the  way  of 
money ;  but  I  told  him  I  would  go  on  the  products  of  the  coun- 
try ;  that  I  had  industrious  children,  and  the  best  of  coon^dogs ; 
and  they  would  hunt  every  night  till  midnight  to  support  my 
election;  and  when  the  coon  fur  wasn't  good,  I  would  myself  go 
a  wolfing,  and  shoot  down  a  wolf  and  skin  his  head  and  his  scalp 
would  be  good  to  me  for  three  dollars,  in  our  State  treasury 
money;  and  in  this  way  I  would  get  along  on  the  big  string.  He 
stood  like  he  was  both  amused  and  astonished,  and  the  whole 
crowd  was  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  From  this  place  I  returned 
home,  leaving  the  people  in  i  first-rate  way,  and  I  was  sure  I 
would  do  a  good  business  among  them.  At  any  rate,  I  was  de- 
termined to  stand  up  to  my  lick-log,  salt  or  no  salt. 

"  In  a  short  time  there  came  out  two  other  candidates,  a  Mr. 
Shaw  anrl  g.  Mr.  Brown.  We  all  ran  the  race  through ;  and  when 
the  election  was  over,  it  turned  out  that  I  beat  them  all  by  a  ma- 
jority of  two  hundred  and  forty-seven  votes,  and  was  again  re- 
turned as  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  a  new  region  of  the 
country,  without  losing  a  session.  This  reminded  me  of  the  old 
saw  — '  A  fool  for  luck,  and  a  poor  man  for  children." 

BECOMES  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  CONGRESS. 

Crockett  served  in  the  legislature  of  1823-24,  making  his  sec- 
ond term.  It  was  during  this  term  that  Jackson  was  a  can- 
didate for  the  Senate,  and  being  the  idol  of  his  people  was,  of 
course,  elected,  but  it  was  not  by  Crockett's  vote,  and  in  fact 
despite  his  active  opposition,  for,  though  the  reason  has  never 
been  explained,  to  my  knowledge,  Crockett  always  bore  a  hatred 
towards  Jackson,  probably  caused  by  some  act  of  the  latter  dur- 
ing the  Creek  War, 


OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  207 

In  1824  the  tariff  question  was  a  paramount  issue  in  Congress, 
of  especial  importance  to  the  Southern  States,  as  it  promised  to 
largely  increase  the  price  of  cotton ;  but  the  proposition  to  in- 
crease the  tariff  did  not  apply  to  cotton  only,  but  to  hundreds  of 
household  necessaries  as  well,  on  which  account  the  law  was  gen- 
erally opposed.  Col.  Alexander  represented  Crockett's  district 
in  Congress,  and  had  voted  for  the  new  tariff  bill,  which  affected 
his  popularity  so  much  that  the  opposition  had  excellent  hope* 
for  defeating  him  at  the  next  election.  They  cast  about  for  a 
man  to  set  up  against  him,  and  at  length  united  upon  Crockett 
who,  at  first,  positively  refused  to  run,  on  account  of  his  ignor- 
ance of  matters  that  every  representative  in  Congress  ought  to  be 
familiar  with.  But  persuasion  altered  his  determination  and  he 
entered  into  the  race  with  energy.  Alexander's  sudden  loss  of 
popularity,  on  account  of  his  vote  on  the  new  tariff  bill,  was  off- 
set by  Crockett's  decline  in  public  favor  because  of  his  opposi- 
tion to  Jackson.  But  Alexander  could  plead  that  the  tariff  bill 
advanced  the  price  of  cotton,  which  was  some  extenuation  of  his 
fault  in  the  eyes  of  his  constituents,  while  Crockett,  as  he  main- 
tains, might  as  well  have  sung  psalms  over  a  dead  horse,  as  to  try 
to  convince  the  people  that  he  had  done  his  duty  in  voting 
against  Jackson.  He  was  thus  put  to  disadvantage  that  showed 
clearly  in  the  election  result,  for  Crockett  was  defeated,  though 
by  the  narrow  majority  of  only  two  votes.  In  other  words,  to 
use  Crockett's  illustration,  Alexander  had  crawled  into  Congress 
by  as  tight  a  squeeze  as  Henry  Snyder  had  got  into  heaven. 

AN  EXTRAORDINARY  BEAR  HUNT. 

Crockett  accepted  his  defeat  with  good  grace  and  immediately 
set  about  to  improve  his  fortune,  but  in  a  way  entirely  new  to 
him,  and,  like  a  majority  of  new  ways,  the  experiment  proved  a 
disastrous  failure.  Having  acquired,  by  entry,  considerable  land 
that  was  well  timbered,  he  undertook  to  make  it  available  by  con- 
verting a  large  amount  of  the  timber  into  pipe-staves,  which  were 
in  good  demand  in  New  Orleans.  He  accordingly  hired  a  dozen 
men,  some  of  whom  he  put  to  work  cutting  staves,  and  others  to 
building  boats  in  which  to  float  them  to  market.  He  continued 


208  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

at  this  employment  until  the  spring  of  1826,  when  the  bear  sea- 
son having  opened,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  time  when  bears  crawl 
out  of  their  winter  quarters,  which  is  usually  about  April  1st,  — 
he  gave  over  work  in  order  to  enjoy  a  grand  hunt  for  his 
favorite  game  and  lay  in  a  supply  of  meat. 

Within  a  few  days  after  going  upon  the  hunt  he  had  killed  and 
salted  down  as  many  bear  as  his  family  could  consume  in  a  year, 
and  was  upon  the  point  of  resuming  the  cutting  of  staves,  when 
a  settler,  whose  ranch  was  twenty-five  miles  west  of  Crockett, 
came  and  requested  him  to  continue  the  hunt  in  his  section,  where 
bears  had  become  so  numerous  that  he  could  keep  neither  pigs, 
sheep  nor  calves  for  their  depredations.  To  accommodate  this 
neighbor  Crockett  accompanied  him  home,  and  with  his  pack  of 
eight  dogs  went  in  pursuit  of  the  game,  and  continued  the  hunt 
for  two  weeks,  during  which  time  he  killed  fifteen  bears. 

As  much  of  Crockett's  fame  rests  upon  his  quaint  bear-stories, 
I  will  let  him  relate  in  his  own  language  the  adventures  that  be- 
fell him  in  his  next  hunt:  — 

"  Having  now  supplied  my  friend  with  plenty  of  meat,  I  en- 
gaged occasionally  again  with  my  hands  in  our  boat  building,  and 
getting  staves.  But  I  at  length  couldn't  stand  it  any  longer 
without  another  hunt.  So  I  concluded  to  take  my  little  son  and 
cross  over  the  lake,  and  take  a  hunt  there.  We  got  over,  and 
that  evening  turned  out  and  killed  three  bears  in  little  or  no 
time.  The  next  morning  we  drove  up  four  forks,  and  made  a 
sort  of  scaffold,  on  which  we  salted  up  our  meat,  so  as  to  have  it 
out  of  reach  of  the  wolves,  for  as  soon  as  we  would  leave  our 
camp,  they  would  take  possession.  We  had  just  eat  our  break- 
fast, when  a  company  of  hunters  came  to  our  camp  who  had 
fourteen  dogs,  but  all  so  poor,  that  when  they  would  bark  they 
would  almost  have  to  lean  up  against  a  tree  and  take  a  rest.  I 
told  them  their  dogs  couldn't  run  in  smell  of  a  bear,  and  they 
had  better  stay  at  my  camp  and  feed  them  on  the  bones  I  had 
cut  out  of  my  meat.  I  left  them  there  and  cut  out;  but  I  hadn't 
gone  far,  when  my  dogs  took  a  first  rate  start  after  a  very  large 
fat  old  he-bear,  which  run  right  plump  toward  my  camp.  I  pur- 
sued on,  but  my  other  hunters  had  heard  my  dogs  coming,  and 
met  them  and  killed  the  bear  before  I  got  up  with  him. 
I  gave  hjin  to  them,  and  cut  out  again  for  a  creek  called  Big 


LIFE    OF    DAVY    CROCKETT, 


209 


Clover  which  wasn't  very  far  off.     Just  as  I  got  there,  and 
entering  a  cane-brake,  my  dogs  all  broke  and  went  ahead, 


was 
and 


AN   EXCITING   BATTLE. 


in  a  little  time  they  raised  a  fuss  in  the  cane,  and  seemed  to  be 
going  every  way.     I  listened  a  while,  and  found  my  dogs  was  io 


14 


210  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

two  companies,  and  that  both  was  in  a  snorting  fight.  I  sent  my 
little  son  to  one  and  I  broke  for  t'other.  I  got  to  mine  first, 
and  found  my  dogs  had  a  two-year  old  bear  down  a-wooling 
away  on  him,  so  I  just  took  out  my  big  butcher,  and  went  up 
and  slapped  it  into  him,  and  killed  him  without  shooting.  There 
was  five  of  the  dogs  in  my  company.  In  a  short  time  I 
heard  my  little  son  fire  at  his  bear;  when  I  went  to  him  he  had 
killed  it  too.  He  had  two  dogs  in  his  team.  Just  at  this  mo- 
ment we  heard  my  other  dog  barking  a  short  distance  off,  and 
all  the  rest  immediately  broke  to  him.  We  pushed  on  too,  and 
when  we  got  there,  we  found  that  he  had  still  a  larger  bear  than 
either  of  them  we  had  killed,  treed  by  himself.  We  killed  that 
one  also,  which  made, three  we  had  killed  in  less  than  half  an 
hour.  We  turned  in  and  butchered  them,  and  then  started  to 
hunt  for  water  and  a  good  place  to  camp.  But  we  had  no  sooner 
started,  than  our  dogs  took  another  start  after  another  one,  and 
away  they  went  like  a  thundergust  and  was  out  of  hearing  in  a 
minute.  We  followed  the  way  they  had  gone  for  some  time, 
but  at  length  we  gave  up  the  hope  of  finding  them,  and  turned 
back.  As  we  were  going  back,  I  came  to  where  a  poor  fellow 
was  grubbing,  and  he  looked  like  the  very  picture  of  hard  times. 
I  asked  him  what  he  was  doing  away  there  in  the  woods  by  him- 
self ?  He  said  he  was  grubbing  for  a  man  who  intended  to  settle 
there;  and  the  reason  why  he  did  it  was,  that  he  had  no  meat 
for  his  family,  and  he  was  working  for  a  little. 

"  I  was  mighty  sorry  for  the  poor  fellow,  for  it  was  not  only 
a  hard  but  a  very  slow  way  to  get  meat  for  a  hungry  family ;  so 
I  told  him  if  he  would  go  with  me,  I  would  give  him  more  meat 
than  he  could  get  by  grubbing  in  a  month.  I  intended  to  supply 
him  with  meat,  and  also  to  get  him  to  assist  my  little  boy  in  pack- 
ing and  salting  up  my  bears.  He  had  never  seen  a  bear  killed  in 
his  life.  I  told  him  I  had  six  killed  then,  and  my  dogs  were  hard 
after  another.  He  went  off  to  his  little  cabin,  which  was  a  short 
distance  in  the  brush,  and  his  wife  was  very  anxious  he  should  go 
with  me.  So  we  started  and  went  to  where  I  had  left  my  three 
bears,  and  made  a  camp.  We  then  gathered  my  meat,  and  salted 
and  scaffolded  it,  as  I  had  done  the  other.  Night  now  came  on, 
but  no  word  from  my  dogs  yet.  I  afterwards  found  they  had 
treed  the  bear  about  five  miles  off  near  to  a  man's  house,  and 
had  barked  at  it  the  whole  enduring  night.  Poor  fellows !  many 
a  time  they  locked  for  me,  and  wondered  why  I  didn't  come,  for 
they  know'd  there  was  no  mistake  in  me,  and  I  know'd  they 
were  as  good  as  ever  fluttered.  In  the  morning,  as  soon  as  H 


LIFE   OF   DAVY    CROCKETT. 

was  light  enough -to  see,  the  inau  took  his  guii  and  went  to  them, 
and  shot  the  bear  and  killed  it.  My  dogs,  however,  wouldn't 
have  anything  to  say  to  this  stranger ;  so  they  left  him,  and  came 
early  in  the  morning  back  to  me. 

"  We  got  our  breakfast  and  cut  out  again,  and  we  killed  four 
large  and  very  fat  bears  that  day.  We  hunted  out  the  week, 
and  in  that  time  we  killed  seventeen,  all  of  them  first-rate. 
When  we  closed  our  hunt,  I  gave  the  man  over  a  thousand  weight 
of  fine,  fat  bear-meat,  which  pleased  him  mightily,  and  made  him 
feel  as  rich  as  a  Jew.  I  saw  him  the  next  fall,  and  he  told  me 
he  had  plenty  of  meat  to  do  him  the  whole  year,  from  his  week's 
hunt.  My  son  and  me  now  went  home.  This  was  the  week  be- 
tween Christmas  and  New  Year,  that  we  made  this  hunt.'* 

A  CURIOUS  HABIT  AND   SINGULAR   RESULTS. 

"  When  I  got  home,  one  of  my  neighbors  was  out  of  meat, 
and  wanted  rne  to  go  back,  and  let  him  go  with  me  to  take 
another  hunt.  I  couldn't  refuse;  but  I  told  him  I  was  afraid  the 
bear  had  taken  to  house  by  that  time,  for  after  they  get  very  fat 
in  the  fall  and  early  part  of  the  winter,  they  go  into  their  holes 
in  large  hollow  trees,  or  into  hollow  logs,  or  their  cane-houses, 
or  the  harricanes,  and  lie  there  till  spring,  like  frozen  snakes. 
And  one  thing  about  this  will  seem  mighty  strange  to  many  peo- 
ple: From  about  the  first  of  January  to  about  the  last  of  April, 
these  varments  lie  in  their  holes  altogether.  In  all  that  time  they 
have  no  food  to  eat ;  and  yet  when  they  come  out  they  are  not 
an  ounce  lighter  than  when  they  went  to  house.  I  don't  know 
the  cause  of  .this,  and  still  I  know  it  is  a  fact;  and  I  leave  it  for 
others  who  have  more  learning  than  myself  to  account  for  it. 
They  have  not  a  particle  of  food  with  them,  but  they  just  lie 
and  suck  the  bottom  of  their  paw  all  the  time.  I  have  killed 
many  of  them  in  their  trees,  which  enables  me  to  speak  positively 
on  this  subject.  However,  my  neighbor,  whose  name  was 
McDaniel,  and  my  little  son  and  me,  went  on  down  to  the  lake 
to  my  second  camp,  where  I  had  killed  my  seventeen  bears  the 
week  before,  and  turned  out  to  hunting.  But  we  hunted  hard  all 
clay  without  getting  a  single  start.  We  had  carried  but  little 
provisions  with  us,  and  the  next  morning  was  entirely  out  of 
meat.  I  sent  my  son  about  three  miles  off  to  the  house  of  an 
old  t'riend  to  get  some.  The  old  gentleman  was  much  pleased  to 
hear  I  was  hunting  in  those  parts,  for  the  year  before  the  bears 
had  killed  a  great  many  of  his  hogs.  He  was  that  day  killing 
ftis  bacon  hogs,  and  so  he  gave  my  son  some  meat,  and  sent  wonj 


212  STOEY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

to  me  that  I  must  come  to  his  house  that  evening,  that  he  would 
have  plenty  of  feed  for  my  dogs,  and  some  accommodations  for 
ourselves  ;  but  before  my  son  got  back,  we  had  gone  out  hunting, 
and  in  a  large  cane-brake  my  dogs  found  a  big  bear  in  a  cane- 
house,  which  he  had  fixed  for  his  winter-quarters,  as  they  some- 
times do. 

"When  my  lead  dog  found  him,  and  raised  the  yell,  all  the 
rest  broke  to  him,  but  none  of  them  entered  his  house  until  we 
got  up.  I  encouraged  my  dogs,  and  they  knowed  me  so  well, 
that  I  could  have  made  them  seize  the  old  serpent  himself,  with 
all  his  horns  and  heads,  and  cloven  foot  and  ugliness  into  the 
bargain,  if  he  would  only  have  come  to  light,  so  that  they  could 
have  seen  him.  They  bulged  in,  and  in  an  instant  the  bear  fol- 
lowed them  out,  and  I  told  my  friend  to  shoot  him,  as  he  was 
mighty  wrathy  to  kill  a  bear.  He  did  so,  and  killed  him  prime. 
We  carried  him  to  our  camp,  by  which  time  my  son  had  re- 
turned; and  after  we  got  our  dinners  we  packed  up,  and  cut  for 
the  house  of  my  old  friend,  whose  name  was  Davidson. 

LOOK  OUT   FOR  THE  BEAK. 

* '  We  got  there  and  staid  with  him  that  night ;  and  the  next 
morning,  having  salted  up  our  meat,  we  left  it  with  him,  and 
started  to  take  a  hunt  between  the  Obion  lake  and  the  Bed  foot 
lake,  as  there  had  been  a  dreadful  hurricane,  which  passed  be- 
tween them,  and  I  was  sure  there  must  be  a  heap  of  bears  in  the 
fallen  timber.  We  had  gone  about  five  miles  without  seeing  any 
sign  at  all;  but  at  length  we  got  on  some  high  cany  ridges,  and 
as  we  rode  along,  I  saw  a  hole  in  a  large  black-oak,  and  on  ex- 
amining more  closely,  I  discovered  that  a  bear  had  clomb  the  tree. 
I  could  see  his  tracks  going  up,  but  none  coming  down,  and  so  I 
was  sure  he  was  in  there.  A  person  who  is  acquainted  with  bear- 
hunting,  can  tell  easy  enough  when  the  varment  is  in  the  hollow ; 
for  as  they  go  up  thay  don't  slip  a  bit,  but  as  they  come  down 
they  make  long  scratches  with  their  nails. 

"  My  friend  was  a  little  ahead  of  me,  but  I  called  him  back, 
and  told  him  there  was  a  bear  in  that  tree,  and  I  must  have 
him  out.  So  we  lit  from  our  horses;  and  I  found  a  small  tree 
which  I  thought  I  could  fall  so  as  to  lodge  against  my  bear  tree, 
and  we  fell  to  work  chopping  it  with  our  tomahawks.  I  intended, 
when  we  lodged  the  tree  against  the  other,  to  let  my  little  son 
go  up,  and  look  into  the  hole,  for  he  could  climb  like  a  squirrel. 
We  had  chopp'd  on  a  little  time  and  stopped  to  rest,  when  I 
heard  my  dogs  barking  mighty  severe  at  a  distance  from  us*  and 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT. 


213 


I  told  my  friend  I  knowed  they  had  a  bear ;  for  it  is  the  nature 
of  a  dog,  when  he  finds  you  are  hunting  bears,  to  hunt  for  nothing 
else ;  he  becomes  fond  of  the  meat,  and  considers  other  game 
as  '  not  worth  a  notice,'  as  old  Johnson  said  of  the  devil. 

"  We  concluded  to  leave  our  tree  a  bit,  and  went  to  my  dogs, 
and  when  we  got  there,  sure  enough  they  had  an  eternal  great 
big  fat  bear  up  a  tree,  just  ready  for  shooting.  My  friend  again 
petitioned  me  for  liberty  to  shoot  this  one  also.  I  had  a  little 
rather  not,  as  the  bear  was  so  big,  but  I  couldn't  refuse;  so  he 


ALMOST  TOO  MUCH  FOR  THE  CROWD. 

blazed  away,  and  down  came  the  old  fellow  like  some  great  log 
had  fell.  I  now  missed  one  of  my  dogs,  the  same  that  I  before 
spoke  of  as  having  treed  the  bear  by  himself  sometime  before, 
when  I  had  started  the  three  in  the  cane-brake.  I  told  my  friend 
that  my  missing  dog  had  a  bear  somewhere,  just  as  sure  as  fate^ 
so  I  left  them  to  butcher  the  one  we  had  just  killed,  and  I  went 
up  on  a  piece  of  high  ground  to  listen  for  my  dog.  I  heard  him 
barking  with  all  his  might  some  distance  off,  and  I  pushed  ahead 
for  him.  My  other  dogs  hearing  him  broke  to  him,  and  when  I 
got  there,  sure  enough  agaiu  he  had  another  bear  ready  treed;  if 


214  STORY   OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

he  hadn't,  I  wish  I  may  be  shot.  I  fired  on  him,  and  brought 
him  down;  and  then  went  back,  and  help'd  finish  butchering  the 
one  at  which  I  had  left  my  friend.  We  then  packed  both  to  our 
tree  where  we  had  left  my  boy.  By  this  time,  the  little  fellow 
had  cut  the  tree  down  that  we  intended  to  lodge,  but  it  fell  the 
wrong  way ;  he  had  then  f eather'd  in  on  the  big  tree,  to  cut  that, 
and  had  found  that  it  was  nothing  but  a  shell  on  the  outside,  and 
all  doted  in  the  middle,  as  too  many  of  our  big  men  are  in  these 
days  having  only  an  outside  appearance.  My  friend  and  my  son 
cut  away  on  it,  and  I  went  off  about  a  hundred  yards  with  my 
dogs  to  keep  them  from  running  under  the  tree  when  it  should 
fail. 

A  ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE  FIGHT. 

"  On  looking  back  at  the  hole,  I  saw  the  bear's  head  out  of  it, 
looking  down  at  them  as  they  were  cutting.  I  hollered  to  them 
to  look  up,  and  they  did  so;  and  McDaniel  catched  up  his  gun, 
but  by  this  time  the  bear  was  out  and  coming  down  the  tree. 
He  fired  at  it,  and  as  soon  as  he  touched  the  ground  the  dogs 
were  all  around  it,  and  they  had  a  roll-and-tumble  fight  to  the 
foot  of  the  hill,  where  they  stopp'd  him.  I  ran  up  and  putting 
my  gun  against  the  bear,  fired  and  killed  him.  We  had  now 
three,  and  so  we  made  our  scaffold  and  salted  them  up. 

"  In  the  morning  I  left  my  son  at  the  camp,  and  we  started  on 
towards  the  harricane ;  and  when  we  had  went  about  a  mile,  we 
started  a  very  large  bear,  but  we  got  along  mighty  slow  on  ac- 
count of  the  cracks  in  the  earth  occasioned  by  earthquakes.  We 
however  made  out  to  keep  in  hearing  of  the  dogs  for  about  three 
miles,  and^then  we  come  to  the  harricane.  Here  we  had  to  quit 
cur  horses,  as  old  Nick  himself  couldn't  have  got  through  it 
without  sneaking  along  in  the  form  that  he  put  on  to  make  a 
fool  of  our  old  grandmother  Eve.  By  this  time  several  of  my 
dogs  had  got  tired  and  come  back ;  but  we  went  ahead  on  foot 
for  some  little  time  in  the  harricane,  when  we  met  a  bear  coming 
straight  to  us,  and  not  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  yards  off.  I 
started  my  tired  dogs  after  him,  and  McDaniel  pursued  them,  and 
I  went  on  to  where  my  other  dogs  were.  I  had  seen  the  track  of 
the  bear  they  were  after,  and  I  knowed  he  was  a  screamer.  I 
followed  on  to  about  the  middle  of  the  harricane,  but  my  dogs 
pursued  him  so  close  that  they  made  him  climb  an  old  stump 
about  twenty  feet  high.  I  got  in  shooting  distance  of  him  and 
fired,  but  I  was  all  over  in  such  a  flutter  from  fatigue  and  run- 
ning, that  I  couldn't  hold  steady;  but,  however,  I  broke  his 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  215 

shoulder,  and  he  fell.  I  run  up  and  loaded  my  gun  as  quick  as 
possible,  and  shot  him  again  and  killed  him.  When  I  went  to 
take  out  my  knife  to  butcher  him,  I  found  I  had  lost  it  in  coming 
through  the  harricane.  The  vines  and  briers  was  so  thick  that  I 
would  sometimes  have  to  get  down  and  crawl  like  a  varment  to 

fet  through  at  all ;  and  a  vine  had,  as  I  supposed,  caught  in  the 
andle  and  pulled  it  out.  While  I  was  standing  and  studying 
what  to  do,  my  friend  came  to  me.  He  had  followed  my  trail 
through  the  harricane,  and  had  found  my  knife,  which  was 
mighty  good  news  to  me;  as  a  hunter  hates  the  worst  in  the 
world  to  lose  a  good  dog,  or  any  part  of  his  hunting  tools.  I  now 
left  McDaniel  to  butcher  the  bear,  and  I  went  after  our  horses, 
and  brought  them  as  near  as  the  nature  of  the  case  would  allow. 
I  then  took  our  bags,  and  went  back  to  where  he  was;  and  when 
we  had  skinned  the  bear,  we  fleeced  off  the  fat  and  carried  it  to 
our  horses  at  several  loads.  We  then  packed  it  up  on  our  horses, 
and  had  a  heavy  pack  of  it  on  each  one.  We  now  started  and 
went  on  till  about  sunset,  when  I  concluded  we  must  be  near  our 
camp ;  so  I  hollered  and  my  son  answered  me,  and  we  moved  on 
in  the  direction  to  the  camp.  We  had  gone  but  a  little  way  when 
I  heard  my  dogs  make  a  warm  start  again ;  and  I  jumped  down 
from  my  horse  and  gave  him  up  to  my  friend,  and  told  him  I 
would  follow  them.  He  went  on  to  the  camp,  and  I  went  ahead 
after  my  dogs  with  all  my  might  for  a  considerable  distance,  till 
at  last  night  came  on.  The  woods  were  very  rough  and  hilly, 
and  all  covered  over  with  cane. 

CROCKETT  BEARDS  A  BEAR  IN  HIS  DEN. 

"  I  now  was  compelled  to  move  on  more  slowly;  and  waa 
frequently  falling  over  logs,  and  into  the  cracks  made  by  the 
earthquakes,  so  that  I  was  very  much  afraid  I  would  break 
my  gun.  However,  I  went  on  about  three  miles,  when  I  came 
to  a  good  big  creek,  which  I  waded.  It  was  very  cold,  and  the 
creek  was  about  knee-deep ;  but  I  felt  no  great  inconvenience 
from  it  just  then,  as  I  was  all  over  wet  with  sweat  from  running, 
and  I  felt  hot  enough.  After  I  got  over  this  creek  and  out  of 
the  cane,  which  was  very  thick  on  all  our  creeks,  I  listened  for 
my  dogs.  I  found  they  had  either  treed  or  brought  the  bear  to  a 
stop,  as  they  continued  barking  in  the  same  place.  I  pushed  on  as 
near  in  the  direction  of  the  noise  as  I  could,  till  I  found  the  hill 
was  too  steep  for  me  to  climb,  and  so  I  backed  and  went  down 
the  creek  some  distance,  till  I  came  to  a  hollow,  and  then  took 
up  that,  till  I  came  to  a  place  where  I  could  climb  up  the  hill. 


STORT  OF  THE   WILD    WES?. 


It  was  mighty  dark,  and  was  difficult  to  see  my  way,  or  anything 
else.  When  I  got  up  the  hill,  I  found  I  had  passed  the  dogs , 
and  so  I  turned  and  went  to  them.  I  found,  when  I  got  there, 
they  had  treed  the  bear  in  a  large  forked  poplar,  and  it  was  set- 
ting in  the  fork. 

"  I  could  see  the  lump,  but  not  plain  enough  to  shoot  with  any 
certainty,  as  there  was  no  moonlight ;  and  so  I  set  in  to  hunting 
for  some  dry  brush  to  make  me  a  light;  but  I  could  find  none, 
though  I  could  find  that  the  ground  was  torn  mightily  to  piece? 
by  the  cracks. 


A   FIGHT 


CLOSE    QUARTERS. 


,  "  At  last  I  thought  I  could  shoot  by  guess,  and  kill  him  ;  so  I 
pointed  as  near  the  lump  as  I  could,  and  fired  away.  But  the 
bear  didn't  come,  he  only  dumb  up  higher,  and  got  out  on  a 
limb,  which  helped  me  to  see  him  better.  I  now  loaded  up  again 
and  fired,  but  this  time  he  didn't  move  at  all.  I  commenced 
loading  for  a  third  fire,  but  the  first  thing  I  knowed,  the  bear  was 
down  among  my  dogs,  and  they  were  fighting  all  around  me.  I 
had  my  big  butcher  in  my  belt,  and  I  had  a  pair  of  dressed  buck- 
skin breeches  on.  So  I  took  out  my  knife,  and  stood  deter- 
mined, if  he  should  get  hold  of  me,  to  defend  myself  in  the  best 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT. 

Way  I  could.  I  stood  there  for  some  time,  and  could  now  and 
then  see  a  white  dog  I  had,  but  the  rest  of  them,  and  the  bear, 
which  were  dark  colored,  I  couldn't  see  at  all,  it  was  so  miserable 
dark.  They  still  fought  around  me,  and  sometimes  within  three 
feet  of  me,  but  at  last  the  bear  got  down  into  one  of  the  cracks 
that  the  earthquakes  had  made  in  the  ground,  about  four  feet 
deep,  and  I  could  tell  the  biting  end  of  him  by  the  hollering  of 
my  dogs.  So  I  took  my  gun  and  pushed  the  muzzle  of  it  about, 
till  I  thought  I  had  it  against  the  main  part  of  his  body,  and 
tired  ;  but  it  happened  to  be  only  the  fleshy  part  of  his  foreleg. 
With  this  he  jumped  out  of  the  crack,  and  he  and  the  dogs  had 
another  hard  fight  around  me,  as  before-  At  last,  however,  they 
forced  him  back  into  the  crack  again,  as  he  was  when  I  had  shot. 
"  I  had  laid  down  my  gun  in  the  dark,  and  I  now  began  to 
hunt  for  it;  and  while  hunting  I  got  hold  of  a  pole,  and  I  con- 
cluded I  would  punch  him  awhile  with  that.  I  did  so,  and  when 
1  would  punch  him,  the  dogs  would  jump  in  on  him,  when  he 
would  bite  them  badly,  and  they  would  jump  out  again.  I  con- 
cluded, as  he  would  take  punching  so  patiently,  it  might  be  that 
he  would  lie  still  enough  for  me  to  get  down  in  the  crack,  and 
feel  slowly  along  till  I  could  find  the  right  place  to  give  him 
a  dig  with  my  butcher.  So  I  got  down,  and  my  dogs  got  in  be- 
fore him  and  kept  his  head  towards  them,  till  I  got  along  easily 
up  to  him ;  and  placing  my  hand  on  his  rump,  felt  for  his  shoul- 
der, just  behind  which  I  intended  to  stick  him.  I  made  a  lunge 
with  my  long  knife,  and  fortunately  stuck  him  right  through 
the  heart,  at  which  he  just  sunk  down,  and  I  crawled  out  in  a 
hurry.  In  a  little  time  my  dogs  all  come  out  too,  and  seemed 
satisfied,  which  was  a  way  they  always  had  of  telling  me  that 
they  had  finished  him." 

A  FUNNY  EXERCISE  TO  KEEP  WARM. 

61 1  suffered  very  much  that  night  with  cold,  as  my  leather 
breeches,  and  everything  else  I  bad  on  was  wet  and  frozen.  But 
I  managed  to  get  my  bear  out  of  this  crack  after  several  hard 
trials,  and  so  I  butchered  him  and  laid  down  to  try  to  sleep. 
But  my  fire  was  very  bad,  and  I  couldn't  find  anything  that 
would  burn  well  to  make  it  any  better  ;  and  so  I  concluded  I 
should  freeze  if  I  didn't  warm  myself  in  some  way  by  exercise. 
So  I  <rot  up  and  hollered  awhile,  and  then  I  would  just  jump  up 
and  down  with  all  my  might,  and  throw  myself  into  all  sorts  of 
motions.  But  all  this  wouldn't  do;  for  my  blood  was  now  get- 
ting cold,  and  the  chills  coming  all  over  me.  I  was  so  tired, 


218  STORY  OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

too,  that  I  could  hardly  walk  ;  but  I  thought  I  would  do  the  best 
I  could  to  save  my  life  and  then,  if  I  died,  nobody  would  be  to 
blame.  So  I  went  to  a  tree  about  two  feet  through,  and  not  a 
limb  on  it  for  thirty  feet,  and  I  would  climb  up  to  the  limbs, 
and  then  lock  my  arms  together  around  it,  and  slide  down  to  the 
bottom  again.  This  would  make  the  insides  of  my  legs  and  arms 
feel  mighty  warm  and  good.  I  continued  this  till  daylight  in  the 
morning,  and  how  often  I  dumb  up  my  tree  and  slid  down  I 
don't  know,  but  I  reckon  at  least  a  hundred  times. 

"  In  the  morning  I  got  my  bear  hung  up  so  as  to  be  safe,  and 
then  set  out  to  hunt  for  my  camp.  I  found  it  after  awhile,  and 
McDaniel  and  my  son  ^were  very  much  rejoiced  to  see  me  get 
back,  for  they  were  about  to  give  me  up  for  lost.  We  got  our 
breakfasts,  and  then  secured  our  meat  by  building  a  high  scaffold, 
and  covering  it  over.  We  had  no  fear  of  its  spoiling,  for  the 
weather  was  so  cold  that  it  couldn't. 

"  We  now  started  after  my  other  bear,  which  had  caused  me 
so  much  trouble  and  suffering;  and  before  we  got  him,  we  got  a 
start  after  another,  and  took  him  also.  We  went  on  to  the  creek 
I  had  crossed  the  night  before,  and  camped,  and  then  went  to 
where  my  bear  was  that  I  had  killed  in  the  crack.  When  we  ex- 
amined the  place,  McDaniel  said  he  wouldn't  have  gone  into  it,  as 
I  did,  for  all  the  bears  in  the  woods. 

"  We  then  took  the  meat  down  to  our  camp  and  salted  it,  and 
also  the  last  one  we  had  killed;  intending  in  the  morning,  to  make 
a  hunt  in  the  harricane  again. 

AN   EARTHQUAKE. 

"  We  prepared  for  resting  that  night,  and  I  can  assure  the 
reader  I  was  in  need  of  it.  We  had  laid  down  by  our  fire,  and 
about  ten  o'clock  there  came  a  most  terrible  earthquake,  which 
shook  the  earth  so  that  we  were  rocked  about  like  we  had  been 
in  a  cradle.  We  were  very  much  alarmed;  for  though  we  were 
accustomed  to  feel  earthquakes,  we  were  now  right  in  the  region 
which  had  been  torn  to  pieces  by  them  in  1812,  and  we  thought 
it  might  take  a  notion  and  swallow  us  up,  like  the  big  fish  did 
Jonah. 

"  In  the  morning  we  packed  up  and  moved  to  the  harricane, 
where  we  made  another  camp,  and  turned  out  that  evening  and 
killed  a  very  large  bear,  which  made  eight  we  had  now  killed  in 
this  hunt. 

"  The  next  morning  we  entered  the  harricane  again,  and  in  a 
little  or  no  time  my  dogs  were  in  full  cry.  We  pursued  them, 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CKOCKETT.  219 

and  soon  came  to  a  thick  cane-brake,  in  which  they  had  stopp'd 
their  bear.  We  got  up  close  to  him,  but  the  cane  was  so  thick 
that  we  couldn't  see  more  than  a  few  feet.  Here  I  made  my 
friend  hold  the  cane  a  little  open  with  his  gun  till  I  shot  the  bear, 
which  was  a  mighty  large  one.  I  killed  him  dead  in  his  tracks. 
We  got  him  out  and  butchered  him,  and  in  a  little  time  started 
another  and 'killed  him,  which  now  made  ten  we  had  killed;  and 
we  knowed  we  couldn't  pack  anymore  home,  as  we  had  only  five 
horses  along ;  therefore  we  returned  to  the  camp  and  salted  up  all 
our  meat,  to  be  ready  for  a  start  homeward  next  morning. 

WONDERFUL    RESULT   OF   THE   HUNT. 

"  The  morning  came,  and  we  packed  our  horses  with  the  meat, 
and  had  as  much  as  they  could  possibly  carry,  and  sure  enough 
cut  out  for  home.  It  was  about  thirty  miles,  and  we  reached 
home  the  second  day.  I  had  now  accommodated  my  neighbor 
wit'h  meat  enough  to  do  him,  and  had  killed  in  all,  up  to  that  time, 
fifty-eight  bears,  during  the  fall  and  winter. 

"As  soon  as  the  time  arrived  for  them  to  quit  their  houses  and 
come  out  again  in  the  spring,  I  took  a  notion  to  hunt  a  little 
more,  and  in  about  one  month  I  killed  forty-seven  more,  which 
made  one  hundred  and  five  bears  which  I  had  killed  in  less  than 
one  year.  "  * 


CHAPTER    VI. 
CROCKETT'S  DISASTROUS  FLAT-BOAT  EXPERIENCE. 

IFE  in  the  lonely  wilderness  of  early  Ten- 
nessee was  a  strange  compound  of  excite- 
ment and  contemplation ;  there  was  no 
medium  ground  for  mind  employment, 
or  social  amusement,  as  even  neighborly 
interchange  of  thought  was  impossible 
in  that  vast  solitude.  The  dull  monotony 
of  isolation  could  only  be  relieved  by 
plunging  into  the  excitement  of  a  hunt  for  wild  animals,  or  by 
a  visit  to  some  cross-roads  saloon,  perhaps  fifty  miles  distant, 

*  These  bear  hunts  of  the  Colonel  entirely  surpass  anything  on  record.  Mr. 
Gordon  Cumming's  record  of  his  fights  with  lions,  elephants,  giraffes,  hippo- 
potamuses and  African  buffaloes,  is  full  of  excitement  and  interest;  but  in  real 
peril  and  adventure,  they  by  no  means  surpass  Colonel  Crockett's  bear  fights. 


220  STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

where  congregated  the  boisterous  element  of  a  sparse  settle- 
ment to  drink  liquor,  shoot  matches  and  carouse  without  fear  of 
disturbing  the  public  peace,  because  there  was  no  public  peace. 

While  Crockett  delighted  in  adventure,  he  also  loved  the  quiet 
that  his  seclusion  from  busy  life  afforded,  and  nature  became  to 
him  a  school  wherein  were  taught  those  severe  lessons  of  dis- 
cipline which,  learned  from  such  a  master,  are  never  forgotten. 
His  mind  was  never  groveling,  but  always  soaring;  hence,  though 
wholly  unlettered  in  the  learning  of  books,  he  inherited  a  quick 
perception  and  excellent  mind,  which  enabled  him  to  absorb  from 
his  good  teacher  the  fundamental  principles  of  knowledge  and  its 
application  to  human  affairs.  Thus  he  developed  from  the 
pupil  to  the  philosopher  of  nature,  and  became  an  adept  in  the 
art  of  apt  illustration,  with  which  he  painted  his  anecdotes  so 
felicitously.  But  this  process  of  enlargement  of  his  under- 
standing, instead  of  satisfying  his  appetite,  grew  with  what  it 
fed  on  and  made  him  long  for  other  spheres,  to  increase  the 
domain  in  which  he  had  so  long  moved,  but  which  now  appeared 
too  small  for  free  action. 

His  failure  to  realize  those  congressional  aspirations  that  had 
received  undue  stimulation  from  assurances  of  his  friends,  as 
well  as  from  his  own  ambition,  undoubtedly  caused  him  intense 
mortification,  though  outwacdly  he  maintained  a  stolid  com- 
posure that  reflected  none  of  his  real  feelings. 

Finding  no  other  avenue  open  for  retreat  from  the  scene  of  his 
defeat,  and  actuated  largely  by  a  desire  to  see  something  more  of 
the  world,  he  began  the  loading  of  two  flat-boats  with  pipe-staves, 
as  already  explained,  with  the  view  of  making  a  profitable  trip  to 
New  Orleans,  and  thence  —  to  whatever  country  fate  or  impulse 
might  carry  him. 

The  boats  were  at  length  loaded,  in  the  summer  of  1827,  with 
thirty  thousand  staves,  and  on  a  beautiful  afternoon  he  pushed 
away  from  the  shore,  and  floated  out  on  the  Obion  and  away  to 
the  Mississippi.  No  man  had  less  experience  than  he  in  the 
management  of  flat-boats,  for  these  that  he  built  were  the  first  he 
had  ever  seen,  while  his  crew  of  six  men  was  no  better  qualified 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  221 

for  the  trip ;  even  the  pilot  was  a  landsman  whose  knowledge  of 
boating  had  been  acquired  entirely  in  the  management  of  a  canoe. 
Notwithstanding  the  almost  criminal  ignorance  of  both  officers 
and  crew  the  boats  floated  two  days  before  any  trouble  was  en- 
countered, though  at  no  time  did  Crockett  feel  so  secure  as  he 
would  in  a  rough-and-tumble  fight  with  a  bear,  when  he  could 
bring  his  experience  into  use.  The  boats  were  unwieldy,  as 
flat-boats  always  are,  and  the  crew  could  not  control  them. 
Time  and  again  they  tried  to  land,  but  threatening  storms,  dark 
nights,  treacherous  cut-offs,  dangerous  crevasses,  inviting  sand- 
bars, and  frowning  sawyers,  had  to  be  braved,  with  hope  the 
only  pilot  and  trust  to  providence  acting  as  gouger  (the  bow  steer- 
ing oar)  watch.  It  would  be  expecting  too  much  of  fortune  to 
suppose  the  boats  could  escape  disaster  and  reach  their  destina- 
tion under  such  circumstances,  nor  did  they,  as  we  shall  soon  see. 

A  HAIR-BREADTH   ESCAPE. 

The  story  of  the  wreck  that  came  at  last  is  thus  related  by 
Crockett:  — 

"  In  a  short  distance  we  got  into  what  is  called  the  "Devil's 
Elbow ;  '*  and  if  any  place  in  the  wide  creation  has  its  own  proper 
name  I  thought  it  was  this.  Here  we  had  about  the  hardest 
work  that  I  ever  was  engaged  in  in  my  life  to  keep  out  of  dan- 
ger; and  even  then  we  were  in  it  all  the  while.  We  twice  at- 
tempted to  land  at  wood-yards,  which  we  could  see,  but  couldn't 
reach. 

"  The  people  would  run  out  with  lights,  and  try  to  instruct  us 
how  to  get  to  shore,  but  all  in  vain.  Our  boats  were  so  heavy 
that  we  couldn't  take  them  much  any  way,  except  the  way  they 
wanted  to  go,  and  just  the  way  the  current  would  carry  them. 
At  last  we  quit  trying  to  land,  and  concluded  just  to  go  ahead  as 
well  as  we  could,  for  we  found  that  we  couldn't  do  any  better. 
Some  time  in  the  night  I  was  down  in  the  cabin  of  one  of  the 
boats,  sitting  by  the  fire,  thinking  on  what  a  hobble  we  had  got 
into,  and  how  much  better  bear-hunting  was  on  hard  land,  than 
floating  along  on  the  water,  when  a  fellow  had  to  go  ahead 
whether  he  was  exactly  willing  or  not. 

"  The  hatchway  into  the  cabin  came  slap  down,  right  through 
the  top  of  the  boat ;  and  it  was  the  only  way  out  except  a  small 


222 


STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 


hole  in  the  side,  which  we  had  used  for  putting  our  arms  through 
to  dip  up  water  before  we  lashed  the  boats  together. 

"  We  were  now  floating  sideways,  and  the  boat  I  was  in  was 
the  hindmost  as  we  went.  All  at  once  I  heard  the  hands  begin 
to  run  over  the  top  of  the  boat  in  great  confusion,  and  pull  with 
all  their  might;  and  the  first  thing  I  know'd  after  this  we  went 
broadside  full-tilt  against  the  head  of  an  island  where  a  large 
raft  of  drift-timber  had  lodged.  The  nature  of  such  a  place 
would  be,  as  everybody  knows,  to  suck  the  boats  down,  and  turn 


AN   ESCAPE   AT   THE   SACRIFICE   OF     SHIRT   AND    HIDE. 

them  right  under  this  raft;  and  the  uppermost  boat  would,  of 
course,  be  suck'd  down  and  go  under  first.  As  soon  as  we  struck, 
I  bulged  for  my  hatchway,  as  the  boat  was  turning  under  sure 
enough.  But  when  I  got  to  it,  the  water  was  pouring  through 
in  a  current  as  large  as  the  hole  would  let  it,  and  as  strong  as  the 
weight  of  the  river  would  force  it.  I  found  I  couldn't  get  out 
here,  for  the  boat  was  now  turned  down  in  such  a  way  that  it 
was  steeper  than  a  house-top.  I  now  thought  of  the  hole  in  the 
side,  and  made  my  way  in  a  hurry  for  that.  With  difficulty  1 
got  to  it,  and  when  I  got  there  I  found  it  was  too  small  for  me 


LIFE   OF  DAVY  CROCKETT.  225 

to  get  out  by  my  own  power,  and  I  began  to  think  that  I  was  in 
a  worse  box  than  ever.  But  I  put  my  arms  through  and  hollered 
as  loud  as  I  could  roar,  as  the  boat  I  was  in  hadn't  yet  quite 
filled  with  water  up  to  my  head,  and  the  hands  who  were  next  to 
the  raft,  seeing  my  arms  out  and  hearing  me  holler,  seized  them 
and  began  to  pull.  I  told  them  I  was  sinking,  and  to  pull  my 
arms  off,  or  force  me  through,  for  now  I  know'd  well  enough  it 
was  neck  or  nothing,  come  out  or  sink. 

"  By  a  violent  effort  they  jerked  me  through  ;  but  I  was  in  a 
pretty  pickle  when  I  got  through.  I  had  been  sitting  without 
any  clothing  over  my  shirt ;  this  was  torn  off  and  I  was  literally 
skin'd  like  a  rabbit.  I  was,  however,  well  pleased  to  get  out  in 
any  way,  even  without  shirt  or  hide,  as  before  I  could  straighten 
myself  on  the  boat  next  to  the  raft  the  one  they  pulled  me  out 
of  went  entirely  under,  and  I  have  never  seen  it  any  more  to  this 
day.  We  all  escaped  on  to  the  raft  where  we  were  compelled 
to  sit  all  night  about  a  mile  from  land  on  either  side.  Four  of 
my  company  were  bareheaded,  and  three  barefooted ;  and  of  that 
number  I  was  one.  I  reckon  I  looked  like  a  pretty  cracklin  ever 
to  get  to  Congress  1 1 

"  We  had  now  lost  all  our  loading,  and  every  particle  of  our 
clothing,  except  what  little  we  had  on  ;  but  over  all  this,  while  I 
was  setting  there,  in  the  night,  floating  about  on  the  drift,  I  felt 
happier  and  better  off  than  I  ever  had  in  my  life  before,  for 
I  had  just  made  such  a  marvelous  escape  that  I  had  forgot  almost 
everything  else  in  that;  and  so  I  felt  prime." 

CROCKETT  IS  ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS. 

For  a  second  time  all  of  Crockett's  possessions  were  swept 
away  by  water  and  the  world  was  before  him  again.  Though 
the  loss  of  his  boats  cost  him  the  little  that  he  had  accumulated 
while  living  on  the  Obion,  yet  it  did  not  alienate  his  friends  or 
lessen  his  popularity.  Almost  immediately  upon  his  return  home 
he  was  solicited  by  a  large  number  of  his  neighbors  to  stand  again 
for  Congress ,  though  the  election^was  only  two  months  off.  There 
were  two  candidates  already  announced,  viz.:  Colonel  Alexander, 
his  former  competitor,  and  General  William  Arnold,  both  men  of 
considerable  property  and  highly  educated.  Crockett  was  quite 
willing  to  undertake  the  race,  having  no  thing  then  in  view  at  which 
to  turn  his  hand  fora  living,  but  being  penniless  he  could  conceive 
of  no  way  to  raise  the  necessary  f iii}4s  for  conducting  a  cam/r 


224 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


paign.  His  embarrassment,  however,  was  speedily  relieved  by  a 
neighbor,  who  advanced  him  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and 
offered  to  furnish  him  more  if  he  should  require  it.  Thus  armed 

for  the  con- 
test  Crock- 
ett  entered 

f  *^T"  ^  S^  XO  it  with  a  de- 
termination 
to  succeed, 
A  week 
after  an- 
nouncing 
his  can- 
didacy 
Crockett 
attended  a 
mass  meet- 
ing at  which 
Alexander 
and  Arnold 
were  adver- 
t  is  ed  to 
speak,  and 
was  there 
introduced 
to  the  latter.  t 
hough  he 
had  not  ex- 
pected to 
deliver  an 
address , 
after  the  in- 
tr  eduction 
Crockett 

was  invited,  rather  out  of  courtesy,  by  Arnold  to  make  the  open- 
ing speech  which  was  made  so  publicly  that  he  could  not  decline. 
Being  thus  pushed  Into  a  positional  ways  embarrassing  to  Crockett 


CROCKETT   ON   THE    STUMP. 


LIFE   OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  225 

he  arose  and  cell  a  few  jokes,  but  failed  to  make  any  apparent 
impression  upoa  his  auditors.  When  he  descended  from  the 
platform  he  was  succeeded  by  Alexander,  who  made  a  speech  of 
an  hour's  length  to  which  Arnold  replied  in  the  fashion  of  politi- 
cal debate.  The  latter  had  considered  Crockett  as  only  a  mere 
pretender,  without  either  sagacrty  or  popularity,  and  refused  to 
consider  him  as  a  competitor  worthy  of  notice,  so  that  in  all  his 
speech  he  did  not  once  so  much  as  make  a  reference  to  Crockett. 
His  remarks  were  generally  well  received  and  he  would,  no  doubt, 
have  reaped  considerable  benefit  from  the  meeting,  but  for  an 
incident  that  Crockett,  by  his  cunning  humor,  turned  against  his 
antagonist  and  to  his  own  credit.  While  Arnold  was  closing  in 
a  special  effort  wreathed  with  the  flowers  of  eloquent  speech,  a 
flock  of  guinea-hens  appeared  just  behind  the  platform  and 
setup  such  a  "put-racking"  that  the  speaker  could  scarcely 
make  himself  heard,  which  so  annoyed  him  that  he  requested 
some  one  cf  his  hearers  to  drive  them  away.  At  this  juncture 
Crockett  arose  and  with  a  merry  twinkle  in  his  eyes  said,  "  Well, 
Colonel,  you  are  the  only  man  I -ever  met  who  could  understand 
fowl-language.  You  had  not  the  small  courtesy  to  even  mention 
me  in  your  speech,  and  when  my  little  speckled  friends,  the 
guinea-fowls,  came  up  to  protest,  with  their  cry  of  'Crockett, 
Crockett,  Crockett,'  you  are  so  uncivil  as  to  order  them  away." 
This  felicitous  joke  fell  with  such  pointed  force  that  the  crowd 
roared  with  laughter  and  so  disconcerted  Arnold  that  he  abruptly 
left  the  stand  and  in  so  doing  surrendered  the  honors  of  the 
day  to  Crockett. 

The  election  followed  soon  after  and  resulted  in  favor  of 
Crockett  by  a  majority  of  twenty-seven  hundred  and  forty-eight 
votes.  His  total  constituency  was  one  hundred  thousand,  which 
indicates  that  the  polling  strength  of  his  district  was  about 
twenty  thousand. 

CROCKETT'S  DINNER  WITH  PRESIDENT  ADAMS. 

Although  now  a  member  of  Congress,  which  in  his  time  was  a 
mark  of  great  distinction  and  honor,  Crockett  was  entirely  des- 

15 


226  STORY   OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 

titute  of  money,  having  spent  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  he 
had  borrowed  in  the  canvas.  It  now  became  a  question  how  he 
should  be  able  to  get  to  Washington,  but  this  perplexity  was  soon 
relieved  by  his  friend  coming  to  his  rescue  a  second  time  and  mak- 
ing him  another  loan  of  one  hundred  dollars.  With  this  Crockett 
set  out  for  the  capital,  and  upon  arriving  there  he  immediately 
obtained  an  advance  from  the  government  treasurer  of  the  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  borrowed  and  sent  the  sum  to  his 
friend  with  expressions  of  thanks,  as  became  an  honest  man  fully 
appreciating  the  favor  that  had  been  extended  to  him. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  at  Washington  he  was  invited  to  dine 
with  President  Adams,  a  man  of  the  highest  culture,  whose  man- 
ners had  been  formed  in  the  courts  of  Europe.  Crockett,  totally 
unacquainted  with  the  usages  of  society,  did  not  know  what  the 
note  of  invitation  meant,  and  immediately  sought  his  friend,  the 
Hon.  Mr.  Verplanck  for  an  explanation.  Concerning  this  inci- 
dent Crockett  says :  — 

"  I  was  wild  from  the  backwoods,  and  didn't  know  nothing 
about  eating  dinner  with  the  big  folks  of  our  country.  And  how 
should  I,  having  been  a  hunter  all  my  life?  I  had  eat  most  of  my 
dinners  on  a  log  in  the  woods,  and  sometimes  no  dinner  at  all.  I 
knew,  whether  I  ate  dinner  with  the  President  or  not  was  a  mat- 
ter of  no  importance,  for  my  constituents  werenotto  be  benefited 
by  it.  I  did  not  go  to  court  the  President,  for  I  was  opposed  to 
him  in  principle,  and  had  no  favors  to  ask  at  his  hands.  I  was 
afraid,  however,  I  should  be  awkward,  as  I  was  so  entirely  a 
stranger  to  fashion;  and  in  going  along,  I  resolved  to  observe  the 
conduct  of  my  friend  Mr.  Verplanck,  and  to  do  £3  he  did.  And 
I  know  that  I  did  behave  myself  right  well." 

Some  cruel  wag  wrote  the  following  ludicrous  account  of  this 
dinner-party,  which  went  the  round  of  all  the  papers  as  veritable 
history.  The  writer  pretended  to  quote  Crockett's  own  account 
of  the  dinner  : 

"  The  first  thing  I  did,"  said  Davy,  "  after  I  got  to  Washing- 
ton, was  to  go  to  the  President's.  I  stepped  into  the  President 'a 
house.  Thinks  I,  who's  afeard.  If  I  didn't,  I  wish  I  may  be 
shot.  Says  I,  «  Mr.  Adams,  I  am  Mr.  Crockett,  from  Tennessee/ 


UFB   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  227 

So,  says  he,  «  How  d'ye  do,  Mr.  Crockett? '  And  he  shook  me 
by  the  hand,  although  he  know'dl  went  the  whole  hog  for  Jack- 
son. If  he  didn't,  I  wish  I  may  be  shot. 

"  Not  only  that,  but  he  sent  me  a  printed  ticket  to  dine  with 
him.  I've  got  it  in  my  pocket  yet.  I  went  to  dinner,  and  I 
walked  all  around  the  long  table,  looking  for  something  that  1 
liked.  At  last  I  took  my  seat  beside  a  fat  goose,  and  I  helped 
myself  to  as  much  of  it  as  I  wanted.  But  I  hadn't  took  three 


CROCKETT    CALLING   FOR    HIS   GOOSE. 

bites,  when  I  looked  away  up  the  table  at  a  man  they  called  Task 
(attache).  He  was  talking  French  to  a  woman  on  t'other  side 
of  the  table.  He  dodged  his  head  and  she  dodged  hers,  and  then 
they  got  to  drinking  wine  across  the  table. 

"  Br.t  when  I  looked  back  again  my  plate  was  gone,  goose  and 
all.  fjo  I  jist  cast  my  eyes  down  to  t'other  end  of  the  table,  and 
sure  3nou0T  T  seed  a  black  man  walking  off  with  my  plate.  I 
says,  '  Hello,  Mister,  bring  back  my  plate.'  He  fetched  it  back 
in  a  hurry,  as  you  may  think.  And  when  he  set  it  down  before 
me,  how  do  you  think  it  was?  Licked  as  clean  as  my  hand.  If 
it  wasn't,  I  wish  I  may  be  shot  I 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

"  Says  he, '  What  will  you  have  sir? '  And  says  I,  *  You  may 
well  say  that,  after  stealing  my  goose.'  And  he  began  to  laugh. 
Then  says  I,  *  Mister,  laugh  if  you  please  ;  but  I  don't  half-like 
sich  tricks  upon  travelers.  I  then  filled  my  plate  with  bacon  and 
greens.  And  whenever  I  looked  up  or  down  the  table,  I  held  on 
to  my  plate  with  my  left  hand. 

"When  we  were  all  done  eating,  they  cleared  everything  off 
the  table,  and  took  away  the  table-cloth.  And  what  do  you 
think  ?  There  was  another  cloth  under  it.  If  there  wasn ' t ,  I  wish 
I  may  be  shot !  Then  I  saw  a  man  coming  along  carrying  a  great 
glass  thing,  with  a  glass  handle  below,  something  like  a  candle- 
stick. It  was  stuck  full  of  little  glass  cups,  with  something  in 
them  that  looked  good  to  eat.  Says  I,  *  Mister,  bring  that  thing 
here.  Thinks  I,  let's  taste  them  first.  They  were  mighty  sweet 
and  good,  so  I  took  six  of  them.  If  I  didn't,  I  wish  I  may  be 
shot." 

The  story  was  copied  into  nearly  every  newspaper  then  pub- 
lished, and  caused  Crockett  so  much  annoyance  that  he  procured 
the  statements  of  several  persons  who  were  guests  of  the  Presi- 
dent at  the  dinner,  in  denial  of  the  report,  and  in  certification  of 
his  proper  conduct  at  the  banquet,  But  the  bad  effects  were 
never  fully  removed,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  was  haunted 
by  constant  repetitions  of  the  story,  told  with  occasional  varia- 
tions, but  always  to  his  discredit  and  chagrin. 

CROCKETT  RE-ELECTED   AND    OPPOSES   JACKSON. 

In  1829  Crockett  was  a  candidate  for  re-election,  in  which  his 
hopes  were  not  disappointed.  He  had  so  conducted  himself  in 
Congress  as  to  win  the  praise  of  the  whole  country  and  so  in- 
creased in  popular  favor  at  home  that  he  was  again  chosen  by  an 
overwhelming  majority. 

During  his  first  term  he  generally  affiliated  with  what  was 
known  as  the  Jackson  party.  At  this  time,  however,  Jackson 
was  in  the  Senate,  but  while  a  leader  in  that  body,  a  large  part}' 
had  organized  to  make  him  President,  and  everywhere  the  live 
issue  was  presented  of  pro  and  anli  Jackson,  which  culminated 
in  his  election  to  the  presidency  in  the  fall  of  1828. 


LIFE    OF    DAVY    CROCKETT.  229 

"  It  may  be  doubted,"  as  Abbott,  the  historian  says,  "  whether 
there  ever  was  a  more  honest,  conscientious  man  in  Congress  than 
David  Crockett.  His  celebrated  motto,  '  Be  sure  that  you  are 
right,  and  then  go  ahead,'  seemed  ever  to  animate  him.  He 
could  neither  be  menaced  or  bribed  to  support  any  measure  which 
he  thought  to  be  wrong.  Ere  long  he  found  it  necessary  to  op- 
pose some  of  Jackson's  measures.  We  will  let  him  tell  the 
story  in  his  own  truthful  words:  ' 

"  Soon  after  the  commencement  of  this  second  term,  I  saw,  or 
thought  I  did,  that  it  was  expected  of  me  that  I  would  bow  to 
the  name  of  Andrew  Jackson,  and  follow  him  in  all  his  motions, 
and  windings,  and  turnings,  even  at  the  expense  of  my  con- 
science and  judgment.  Such  a  thing  was  new  to  me  and  a  total 
stranger  to  my  principles.  I  knowed  well  enough,  though,  that  if 
I  didn't «  hurrah  '  for  his  name,  the  hue  and  cry  was  to  be  raised 
against  me,  and  I  was  to  be  sacrified,  if  possible.  His  famous, 
or  rather  I  should  say  his  infamous  Indian  bill  was  brought  for- 
ward, and  I  opposed  it  from  the  purest  motives  in  the  world. 
Several  of  my  colleagues  got  around  me,  and  told  me  how  well 
they  loved  me,  and  that  I  was  ruining  myself.  They  said  this 
was  a  favorite  measure  of  the  President  and  I  ought  to  go  for  it, 
[  told  them  I  believed  it  was  a  wicked,  unjust  measure,  and  that  I 
should  go  against  it,  let  the  cost  to  myself  be  what  it  might;  that 
I  was  willing  to  go  with  General  Jackson  in  everything  that  I  be- 
lieved was  honest  and  right;  but,  further  than  this,  I  wouldn't 
go  for  him  or  any  other  man  in  the  whole  creation. 

"  I  had  been  elected  by  a  majority  of  three  thousand  five  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  votes,  and  I  believed  they  were  honest  men, 
and  wouldn't  want  me  to  vote  for  any  unjust  notion,  to  please 
Jackson  or  any  one  else  :  at  any  rate,  I  was  of  age,  and  deter- 
mined to  trust  them.  I  voted  against  this  Indian  bill,  and  my 
conscience  yet  tells  me  that  I  gave  a  good,  honest  vote,  and  one 
that  I  believe  will  not  make  me  ashamed  in  the  day  of  judgment. 
I  served  out  my  term,  and  though  many  amusing  things  happened, 
I  am  not  disposed  to  swell  my  narrative  by  inserting  them. 

"  When  it  closed,  and  I  returned  home,  I  found  the  storm  had 
raised  against  me  sure  enough ;  and  it  was  echoed  from  side  to 
side,  and  from  end  to  end  of  my  district  that  I  had  turned  against 
Jackson.  This  was  considered  the  unpardonable  sin.  I  was 
hunted  down  like  a  wild  varment,  and  in  this  hunt  every  little 
newspaper  in  the  district,  and  every  little  pin- hook  lawyer  was 


230 


STORY   OF  THE   WILD    WEST* 


engaged.     Indeed,  they  were  ready  to  print  anything  and  every- 
thing that  the  ingenuity  of  man  could  invent  against  me." 

In  consequence  of  this  opposition,  Crockett  lost  his  next  elec- 
tion, and  yet  by  a  majority  of  but  seventy  votes.  For  two  years 
he  remained  at  home  hunting  bears.  But  having  once  tasted  the 
pleasures  of  political  life,  and  the  excitements  of  Washington, 
his  silent  rambles  in  the  woods  had  lost  much  of  their  former 
charms.  He  was  again  a  candidate  at  the  ensuing  election,  and, 
after  a  very  warm  contest,  gained  the  day  by  a  majority  of  two 
hundred  and  two  votes. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


GRAND    OVATIONS   TENDERED    CROCKETT, 


E  sure  you're  right,  then  go  ahead."  Thia 
saying  of  Crockett's,  repeated  often 
for  his  own  encouragement,  became  a 
maxim  as  celebrated  as  any  of  Poor 
Richard's  proverbs,  and  was  heard  fifty 
years  ago,  as  it  is  to-day,  in  every  vil- 
lage of  America.  His  droll  stories  made 
him  an  interesting  character,  but  his 
philosophy  was  a  no  less  distinguishing 
trait,  and  served  to  bring  him  into  public 
notoriety  and  to  perpetuate  his  fame. 
Though  without  education,  or  the  polish 
that  contact  with  persons  of  refinement 
gives;  cast  as  he  was  in  a  rugged  mold 
and  spending  his  life  among  surround- 
ings unfavorable  to  courtly  manners  and 
social  accomplishments,  yet  these  disadvantages,  used  as  a  back- 
ground to  his  unaffected  style,  scintillating  wittfemSv  and  won- 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  231 

derful  magnetism,  made  of  his  life  a  pleasing  mosaic,  doubly 
picturesque  because  of  its  contrasts.  The  wonderful  popularity 
of  the  man  is  evidenced  by  what  followed  directly  after  his  re- 
turn to  Congress,  as  we  shall  now  see. 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Washington  Crockett  was  advised 
by  his  physicians  that  a  trip  through  the  North  would  be  of  great 
benefit  to  his  health,  which  had  become  much  impaired  by  ex- 
posure and  hard  work  in  the  preceding  campaign.  This  advice 
was  not  entirely  disagreeable  to  the  patient,  for  he  had  long 
wished  for  an  excuse  to  make  a  journey  to  some  of  the  Eastern 
and  New  England  cities  in  order  that  he  might  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  people,  and  needs  of  that  industrious  and 
wealthy  section.  Accordingly  on  April  25th,  1834,  he  started  on 
a  tour  that  has  ever  since  been  memorable  because  of  the  ex- 
citement created  in  all  the  cities  he  visited,  and  the  droll  speeches 
and  interesting  events  that  characterized  it. 

Crockett  proceeded  to  Baltimore,  where  he  was  entertained  by 
the  city  officials  and  given  a  grand  supper,  that  was  attended  by 
many  distinguished  guests.  Leaving  Baltimore  on  the  following 
afternoon  he  started  down  the  bay  en  route  for  Philadelphia,  at 
which  place  great  preparations  had  been  made  to  receive  him. 
His  descriptions  of  the  novel  sights  that  met  his  gaze  on  this  trip 
are  characteristic  and  highly  am  using .  He  says :  — 

'  *  Our  passage  down  the  Chesapeake  Bay  was  very  pleasant ; 
and  in  a  very  short  run  we  came  to  the  place  where  we  were  to 
get  on  board  of  the  railroad  cars. 

"  This  was  a  clean  new  sight  to  me;  about  a  dozen  big  stages 
hung  on  to  one  machine,  and  to  start  up  hill.  After  a  good  deal 
of  fuss,  we  all  got  seated  and  moved  slowly  off,  the  engine 
wheezing  as  if  she  had  the  tizzick.  By-and-by  she  began  to  take 
short  breaths,  and  away  we  went  with  a  blue  streak  after  us. 
The  whole  distance  is  seventeen  miles,  and  it  was  run  in  fifty-five 
minutes. 

"  While  I  was  whizzing  along,  I  burst  out  a  laughing.  One  of 
the  passengers  asked  me  what  it  was  at.  <  Why,'  says  I,  'it's 
BO  wonder  the  fellow's  horses  run  off.'  A  Carolina  wagoner 
had  just  crossed  the  railroad,  from  Charleston  to  Augusta,  when 
the  engine  hove  in  sight  with  the  cars  attached.  It  was  growing 
dark,  and  the  sparks  were  flying  in  all  directions.  His  horses 


232  STORY  OF  THE   WlLt)   WEST. 

ran  off,  broke  his  wagon,  and  smashed  his  combustibles  into 
items.  He  ran  to  a  house  for  help,  and  when  they  asked  him 
what  scared  his  horses,  he  said  he  did  not  jist  know,  but  it  must 
be  hell  in  harness.*' 

Crockett  debarked  from  the  train  at  Delaware  City  and  re- 
sumed his  journey  by  the  Charles  Carroll,  a  fine  steamer  plying 
between  that  point  and  Philadelphia.  The  boat  was  gaily  decor- 
ated with  bunting  in  honor  of  his  passage,  and  as  she  went  up  the 
Delaware  River  three  large  flags  were  hoisted  as  the  signal  pre- 
viously agreed  upon  to  inform  the  people  that  Crockett  was  on 
board. 

CROCKETT'S  FIRST  VISIT  TO  A  BIG  CITY. 

He  thus  describes  his  reception  by  the  Philadelphians :  — 

"  We  went  on  till  we  came  in  sight  of  the  city  and  as  we  ad- 
vanced towards  the  wharf,  I  saw  the  whole  face  of  the  earth  cov- 
ered with  people,  all  anxiously  looking  on  towards  the  boat. 
The  captain  and  myself  were  standing  on  the  bow-deck;  he 
pointed  his  finger  at  me,  and  people  slung  cheir  hats,  and  huzzaed 
for  Colonel  Crockett.  It  struck  me  with  astonishment  to  hear  a 
strange  people  huzzaing  for  me,  and  made  me  feel  sort  of  queer. 
It  took  me  so  uncommon  unexpected,  as  I  had  no  idea  of  attract- 
ing attention.  But  I  had  to  meet  it,  and  so  I  stepped  en  to  the 
wharf,  where  the  folks  came  crowding  around  me,  saying,  '  Give 
me  the  hand  of  an  honest  man.'  I  did  not  know  what  all  this 
meant;  but  some  gentleman  took  hold  of  me,  and  pressing 
through  the  crowd,  put  me  into  an  elegant  barouche,  drawn  by 
four  fine  horses  ;  they  then  told  me  to  bow  to  the  people;  I  did 
so,  and  with  much  difficulty  we  moved  off.  The  streets  were 
crowded  to  a  great  distance,  and  the  windows  full  of  people, 
looking  out,  I  suppose,  to  see  the  wild  man.  I  thought  1  had 
rather  be  in  the  wilderness  with  my  gun  and  dogs,  than  to  be  at- 
tracting all  that  fuss.  I  had  never  seen  the  like  before,  and  did 
not  know  exactly  what  to  say  or  do.  After  some  time  we  reached 
the  United  States  Hotel,  on  Chestnut  street. 

"  The  crowd  had  followed  me  filling  up  the  street,  and  pressing 
into  the  house  to  shake  hands.  I  was  conducted  up  stairs,  and 
walking  out  on  a  platform,  drew  off  my  hat,  and  bowed  around 
to  the  people.  They  cried  out  from  all  quarters,  'A  speech,  a 
speech,  Colonel  Crockett.' 

" After  the  noise  had  quit,  so  I  could  be  heard,  I  said  to  them 
the  following  words :  — 


LIFE    OF   DAVY   CROCKETT. 


2SB 


"  «  GENTLEMEN  OF  PHILADELPHIA: 

"  «  My  visit  to  your  city  is  rather  accidental.  I  had  no  expect- 
ation of  attracting  any  uncommon  attention.  I  am  traveling  for 
my  health,  with- 
out the  least  wish 
of  exciting  the 
people  in  such 
times  of  high 
political  feeling. 
I  do  not  wish  to 
encourage  it.  I 
am  unable  at 
this  time  to  find 
language  s  u  i  t- 
able  to  return 
my  gratitude  to 
the  citizens  of 
Philadelphia. 
However,  I  am 
almost  induced 
to  believe  it  flat- 
tery — perhaps  a 
burlesque.  This 
is  new  to  me,  yet 
I  see  nothing  but 
friendship  in 
your  faces ;  and 
if  your  curiosity 
is  to  hear  the 
backwoodsman, 
I  will  assure  you 
I  am  illy  pre- 
pared to  address 
this  most  enlight- 
ened people. 
However, gentle- 
men, if  this  is  a 

curiosity  to  you,  if  you  will  meet  me  to-morrow  at  one  o'clock, 
I  will  endeavor  to  address  you,  in  my  plain  manner.' 

CROCKETT'S  ORIGINAL  OBSERVATIONS. 

The  following  day  Crockett  devoted  to  sight-seeing,  under  con- 
duct of  the  mayor  and  other  leading  citizens.     He  went  out  to 


234  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

see  the  great  Fairmount  waterworks  and  was  so  astonished  at  the 
sight  that  he  writes  :  "  Just  think  of  a  few  wheels  throwing  up 
more  water  than  five  hundred  thousand  people  can  use;  yes,  and 
waste,  too:  for  such  scrubbing  of  steps,  and  even  the  very 
pavements  under  your  feet,  I  never  saw.  Indeed,  I  looked  close 
to  see  if  the  housemaids  had  not  web- feet,  they  walked  so  well 
in  water;  and  as  for  fire,  it  has  no  chance  at  all ;  they  just  screw 
on  a  long  hollow  leather  with  a  brass  nose  on  it,  dash  up  stairs, 
and  seem  to  draw  on  Noah's  flood." 

He  was  next  shown  the  mint,  where  his  surprise  was  greater 
than  before  and  his  remarks  equally  droll.  He  was  astounded  at 
the  sight  of  such  large  piles  of  freshly  coined  dollars  and  won- 
dered how  tte  employees  could  withstand  the  temptation  to  fill 
their  pockets  every  evening  before  going  home.  So  impressed 
was  he  with  the  belief  that  only  a  novel  device  could  prevent  such 
an  appropriation  of  the  nation's  money,  that  he  made  bold  to 
offer  a  suggestion:  He  told  the  manager  of  the  mint  that  down 
in  Tennessee  lived  an  old  fellow  who  made  his  negroes  whistle 
while  they  were  picking  cherries,  for  fear  they  should  eat  some, 
and  that  as  this  plan  worked  well,  it  might  be  possible  to  devise 
one  on  the  same  principle  that  would  make  the  mint  employees 
honest. 

He  went  from  one  place  of  interest  to  another,  until  in  the 
afternoon  he  was  conducted  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Neil  where  a  col- 
lation was  served  and  good  liquor  was  not  used  sparingly. 
Crockett  says :  "  And  I  observed  the  man  of  the  house,  when  he 
asked  me  to  take  a  drink,  didn't  stand  by  to  see  how  much  I 
took,  but  turned  away,  and  told  me  to  help  myself.  That's  what 
I  call  genteel." 

CROCKETT  AT  THE  THEATER. 

In  the  evening  he  repaired  to  the  Exchange  and  addressed  a 
crowd  of  fully  five  thousand  people,  who  were  so  enthusiastic 
that  but  little  of  his  speech  could  be  heard  for  their  almost  con- 
tinuous applause.  He  managed  to  tear  himself  away  from  the 
crowd  at  length  and,  chaperoned  by  the  mayor,  he  attended  a 
variety  theater.  Of  the  sight  he  here  witnessed  Crockett  makes 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  235 

some  observations  that  are  as  pertirent  and  valuable  now  as  they 
were  then,  for  the  variety  stage  is  not,  perhaps,  as  chaste  as 
members  in  the  higher  branches  of  the  profession  would  like  to 
have  it:  — 

*  *  What  a  pity  it  is  that  these  theaters  are  not  contrived  that 
everybody  could  go;  but  the  fact  is,  backwoodsman  as  I  am,  I 
have  heard  some  things  in  them  that  was  a  leetle  too  tough  for 
good  women  and  modest  men;  and  that's  a  great  pity,  because 
there  are  thousands  of  scenes  of  real  life  that  might  be  exhibited, 
both  for  amusement  and  edification,  without  offending.  Folks 
pretend  to  say  that  high  people  don't  mind  these  things.  Well, 
it  may  be  that  they  are  better  acquainted  with  vice  than  we  plain 
folks;  but  I  am  yet  to  live  and  see  a  woman  polished  out  of  the 
natural  feelings,  or  too  high  not  to  do  things  that  ain't  quite 
reputable  in  those  of  low  degree. 

"  Their  fiddling  was  pretty  good,  considering  every  fellow 
played  his  own  piece  ;  and  I  would  have  known  more  about  it  if 
they  had  played  a  tune,  but  it  was  all  twee-wee-tadlum-tadlurn- 
tum-tum,  tadle-leedle-tadle-leedle-lee.  The  '  Twenty-second  of 
February,'  or  -the  '  Cuckoo's  Nest,'  would  have  been  a  treat. 

"  I  do  not  think,  however,  from  all  I  saw,  that  the  people  en- 
joyed themselves  better  than  we  do  at  a  country  frolic,  where 
we  dance  till  daylight,  and  pay  off  the  score  by  giving  one  incur 
turn.  It  would  do  you  good  to  see  our  boys  and  girls  dancing. 
None  of  your  straddling,  mincing,  sadying;  but  a  regular  sifter, 
cut-the-buckle,  chicken-flutter  set-to.  It  is  good  wholesome 
exercise ;  and  when  one  of  our  boys  puts  his  arm  round  his  part- 
ner, it  is  a  good  hug,  and  no  harm  in  it." 

CROCKETT   IN   NEW   YORK. 

Having  been  entertained  like  a  prince  for  three  days,  Crockett 
left  Philadelphia  thinking  there  could  be  no  larger  city  in  the 
world,  and  went  over  to  New  York.  He  made  this  latter  journey 
by  the  train  which  he  had  heard  ran  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five 
miles  an  hour,  a  speed  which  he  thought  could  not  possibly  be 
attained  until,  as  he  says,  "  I  put  my  head  out  of  the  window 
to  spit  out  my  tobacco,  when  wa  overtook  it  so  quick  that  it  hit 
me  smack  in  the  face  and  filled  my  left  eye.  The  pain  I  suffered 
fox  the  next  several  minutes  made  me  ready  to  believe  any  thing." 

Crockett  left  the  train  at  Amboy  and  was  taken  to  New  York 


236  STORY   OF   THE   WILD  WEST. 

oy  boat.  At  the  wharf  he  was  met  by  a  committee  of  young 
Whigs,  who  conducted  him  to  the  American  Hotel,  where  he  was 
introduced  to  a  large  party  of  prominent  gentlemen  who  had 
been  waiting  his  arrival.  At  night  he  attended  a  first-class  thea- 
ter and  was  delighted  to  such  an  extent  that  he  never  afterwards 
ceased  praising  the  legitimate  drama. 

His  time  in  New  York  was  well  occupied,  for  there  was  not  an 
hour,  save  after  midnight,  that  he  could  call  his  own.  Committee 
after  committee,  and  one  distinguished  man  after  another,  was 
always  pushing  him  to  accept  invitations.  Among  the  many 
that  he  accepted  was  one  extended  by  a  Colonel  Draper,  who 
had  also  invited  more  than  a  hundred  others,  to  meet  him  at  a 
supper  to  be  given  in  Crockett's  honor,  and  which  promised,  as 
it  proved,  a  grand  affair.  But  though  he  did  not  get  away  from 
the  Colonel's  jolly  party  until  the  night  was  far  advanced,  upon 
his  return  to  the  hotel  he  was  confronted  with  another  invitation 
to  banquet  that  night  with  the  young  Whigs.  Though  "  full  as 
a  stuffed  cub,"  as  he  declared,  Crockett  could  not  refuse  to  gn 
the  banquet  with  his  presence.  Upon  entering  the  hall  a  toast 
was  proposed,  "  To  Crockett,  the  undeviating  supporter  of  the 
constitution  and  laws."  To  this  Judge  Clayton  responded,  bul 
Crockett  was  also  called  to  say  something  in  reply.  He  says 
"  I  made  a  short  speech,  and  concluded  with  the  story  of  th( 
« Red  Cow,'  which  was,  that  as  long  as  General  Jackson  went 
straight,  I  followed  him;  but  when  he  began  to  go  this  way,  and 
that  way,  and  every  way,  I  wouldn't  go  after  him  ;  like  the  boy 
whose  master  ordered  him  to  plough  across  the  field  to  the  red 
cow.  Well,  he  began  to  plough  and  she  began  to  walk;  and  he 
ploughed  all  forenoon  after  her.  So  when  the  master  came,  he 
swore  at  him  for  going  so  crooked.  *  Why,  sir,'  said  the  boy, 
'  you  told  me  to  plough  to  the  red  cow,  and  I  kept  after  her, 
but  she  always  kept  moving.'  " 

Crockett  concluded  his  visit. to  New  York  after  three  days  of 
almost  ceaseless  divertisement,  and  took  the  steamer  for  Boston, 
where  his  reception  was  no  less  hearty  and  his  stay  of  two  days 
equally  enjoyable.  From  Boston  he  went  to  Lowell,  and  then 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  237 

bdck  to  New  York,  where  he  was  again  received  by  a  committee 
and  then  escorted  to  Camden,  where  a  large  banquet  was  given 
in  his  honor  by  a  Mr.  Hoy.  Though  his  host  was  a  very  clever 
and  honest  gentleman,  some  of  the  guests  were  evidently  of  a 
different  character,  for  while  feasting  at  the  sumptuous  board 
Crockett  had  his  pocket  picked  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  dol- 
lars, and  two  other  guests  were  victims  of  the  same  nimble-fin- 
gered gentry.  This  misfortune  would  have  stranded  him  but  for 
the  kindly  aid  that  was  at  once  proffered,  and  which  he  was  ex- 
tremely glad  to  accept. 

PRESENTED   WITH   A   RIFLE    BY   PHILADELPHIA    ADMIRERS. 

Crockett  returned  to  Washington  barely  in  time  to  participate 
in  the  closing  scenes  of  Congress,  having  been  absent  during  the 
entire  session,  on  which  account  he  was  severely  criticised  by  his 
constituents. 

Upon  the  adjournment  of  Congress  Crockett  started  for  home, 
going  by  way  of  Philadelphia  iii  response  to  an  invitation  by  the 
young  Whigs  of  that  city,  who  had  prepared  a  pleasant  surprise 
for  the  celebrated  hunter.  He  put  up  at  the  United  States  Hotel . 
ana  on  the  evening  following  his  arrival  a  committee  called  and 
conducted  him  to  a  public  hall  opposite  the  old  State  House,  which 
was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  with  an  admiring  crowd.  When 
^Q  entered,  his  gaze  fell  at  once  upon  a  table  that  was  set  in  the 
center  of  the  room,  upon  which  lay  a  magnificent  rifle,  powder- 
horn,  a  tomahawk  and  butcher-knife,  all  of  which  had  been 
made  specially  to  order  from  the  finest  material  and  by  the  best 
workmen  in  Philadelphia.  When  the  cheers  of  greeting  finally 
subsided  Crockett  was  conducted  to  a  position  beside  the  table, 
emu  John  M.  Sanderson  made  an  admirable  presentation  speech, 
reciting  the  circumstances  under  which  the  articles  had  been 
made ;  expressing  the  desire  felt  by  his  associates  to  manifest 
their  regard  for  the  great  hunter  and  constitution  defender,  he 
asked  Crockett  to  accept  the  presents  before  him  as  a  mark  of 
the  high  appreciation  felt  for  his  services  by  the  people. 

Crockett  was  so  nearly  overcome  with  surprise  and  embarrass- 
ment that  several  minutes  elapsed  before  he  could  collect  his 


238  STORY    OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

thoughts  and  make  a  reply.  When  somewhat  composed,  he  made 
his  acknowledgments  as  follows :  — 

"Gentlemen:  I  receive  this  rifle  from  the  young  men  of 
Philadelphia  as  a  testimony  of  friendship,  which  I  hope  never  to 
live  to  forget.  This  is  a  favorite  article  with  me,  and  would 
have  been  my  choice  above  all  presents  that  could  have  been 
selected.  I  love  ft  good  gun,  for  it  makes  a  man  feel  independ- 
ent, and  prepared  either  for  war  or  peace. 

"  This  rifle  does  honor  to  the  gentleman  that  made  it.  I  must 
say,  long  as  I  have  been  accustomed  to  handle  a  gun,  I  have 
never  seen  anything  that  could  come  near  a  comparison  to  her  in 
beauty.  I  did  not  think  that  ever  such  a  rifle  was  made,  either 
in  this,  or  any  other  country;  and  how,  gentlemen,  to  express 
my  gratitude  to  you  for  your  splendid  present,  I  am  at  loss. 
This  much,  however,  I  will  say,  that  myself  and  my  sons  will 
not  forget  you  while  we  use  this  token  of  your  kindness  for  our 
amusement.  If  it  should  become  necessary  to  use  her  in  defense 
of  the  liberty  of  our  country,  in  my  time,  I  will  do  as  I  have 
done  before ;  and  if  the  struggle  should  come  when  I  am  buried 
in  the  dust,  I  will  leave  her  in  the  hands  of  some  who  will  honor 
your  present,  in  company  with  your  sons,  in  standing  for  our 
country's  rights. 

"Accept  my  sincere  thanks,  therefore,  gentlemen,  for  your 
valuable  present,  which  1  will  keep  as  a  testimony  of  your 
friendship,  so  long  as  I  am  in  existence." 

After  the  ceremony  of  presenting  the  rifle  was  concluded,  the 
largo  company  assembled  fell  to  enjoying  several  good  things 
that  had  been  provided,  not  the  least  abundant  being  several 
brands  of  wines  and  liquors,  which  everybody  appreciated  in 
those  days  and  which  have  preserved  their  popularity  even  to 
our  own  times.  Drinking  and  eating  was  interlarded  with  toasts 
and  anecdotes,  and  of  course  Crockett  was  called  on  to  tell  a  story, 
with  which  request  he  complied  in  his  own  inimitable  way  by  re- 
lating the  following :  — 

CROCKETT'S  STORY  OF  HOW  HE  GOT  OUT  OF  A  QUANDARY. 

"  While  in  a  brown  study  trying  to  conceive  of  some  plan  to 
outstrip  my  opponent,  who  was  not  so  unpopular  as  I  was  trying 
to  make  myself  believe,  my  train  of  thoughts  was  brought  up  as 
suddenly  as  though  they  had  come  into  collision  with  another 
train  on  the  same  track,  by  a  low  whining  noise  that  at  first  I  could 


LIFE    OF  DAVY    CROCKETT. 


239 


not  locate.  After  listening  awhile  I  knew  that  young  bears  were 
somewhere  about,  but  it  was  several  minutes  before  I  discovered 
their  lair ;  when  at  length  I  looked  up  towards  the  top  of  a  big 
dead  tree  near  which  I  was  standing  I  saw  a  hole  in  the  end  of 
the  trunk  that  had  been  broken  off  by  lightning  or  some  of 
Jackson's  cuss-words  'during  the  Creek  war.  I  now  knew  that 
there  was  a  bear's  nest  in  the  vicinity,  and  that  the  vicinity  was 
the  hollow  of  that  tree, 
and  as  I  never  allowed 
an  opportunity  to  kill  a 
bear  slip  me,  I  took  up 
an  extra  reef  in  my  belt 
and  shinned  up  the  tree 
to  the  hole,  which  was 
full  fifty  feet  from  the 
ground.  It  was  a  long 
climb,  but  I  got  there 
in  due  season  and 
reached  my  hand  down 
to  draw  out  the  cubs, 
for  the  noise  of  their 
whining  sounded  as  if 
they  were  within  a  foot 
or  two  of  the  opening. 
But  finding  that  I  could 
not  reach  them  with  my 
hands,  I  pulled  off  my 
shoes  and  let  myself 
into  the  hole  feet  fore- 
most to  see  if  I  couldn't 
draw  them  out  with  my 
toes.  I  hung  on  to  the 
edge  of  the  hole,  grad- 
ually letting  myself 
clown  further  and 
further,  thinking  all  the  while  that  another  inch  would  reach 
them,  until  at  last  I  was  in  full  length  and  still  a  straining  to 
let  out  one  more  reef  in  my  body,  when  I  wish  I  may  be  shot  if 
I  didn't  lose  my  hold,  and  down  I  went  ker-slap  full  twenty 
feet  among  a  promising  family  of  young  bears  not  yet  old 
enough  to  have  their  claws  on.  I  soon  found  I  might  as  well 
undertake  to  climb  the  greased  end  of  a  rainbow  as  to  get  back, 
the  tree  being  so  large  and  smooth.  Now  ilds  was  a  real  quan- 


HERE   IS    THE    FAMILY. 


240  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

dary.  If  I  was  to  shout  it  would  have  been  doubtful  if  they 
heard  me  from  the  settlement,  and  if  they  did,  the  story  told  by 
my  opponents  would  ruin  my  election.  They  would  not  vote  for 
a  man  that  ventured  into  a  place  that  he  could  not  get  out  of 
himself.  While  considering  whether  it  was  best  to  call  for  help, 
or  wait  there  till  after  the  election,  I  heard  a  kind  of  scratching 
and  growling  above  me,  and  looking  up,  I  saw  the  old  bear  com- 
ing stern  foremost  upon  mec  My  motto  is, «  Go  ahead/  As  soon 
as  she  came  within  my  reach,  I  seized  her  tail  with  my  left  hand, 
and  with  a  small  pen-knife  in  the  other,  I  commenced  spurring 
her  forward c  I'll  be  shot  if  ever  a  member  of  Congress  raised 
quicker  in  the  world  than  I  did.  She  tock  me  out  in  the  shake 
of  a  lamb's  tail." 

This  story  has  since  found  its  way  into  school  readers,  where 
I  remember  to  have  seen  it  when  I  was  a  boy,  though  the  credit 
was  not  given  to  Crockett,  some  other  person  having  filched  the 
honor  from  him. 

Crockett  was  detained  in  Philadelphia  nearly  a  week  by  invi- 
tations, which  were  of  such  a  character  that  he  could  not  refuse. 
The  people  were  much  more  enthusiastic  over  him  during  this 
second  visit  than  before,  and  judging  by  the  numerous  demon- 
strations of  their  regard,  he  appeared  to  be  the  most  popular 
man  that  had  ever  been  in  their  midst.  When  at  length  he  left 
Philadelphia,  he  started  again  for  home,  going  by  way  of  Pitts- 
burg,  where  his  reception  was  very  cordial,  and  where  invitations 
poured  in  on  him  necessitating  a  stay  of  two  days.  Along  the 
route  over  which  he  traveled  the  people  made  great  demonstra- 
tions, the  depots  being  thronged  and  flags  displayed,  while  at 
every  point  he  was  called  on  to  speak,  so  that  the  ovations  he 
received  were  continuous. 

Reaching  Cincinnati,  the  citizens  of  that  place  turned  out  en 
masse  to  receive  him,  and  here  he  was  fairly  forced  to  stay  two 
days,  during  which  time  he  was  banqueted  five  times  and  scarcely 
allowed  an  hour  for  sleep.  At  Louisville  the  same  manifesta- 
tions of  cordial  feeling  and  profound  regard  were  repeated  t  So 
eager  were  the  people  of  Louisville  to  see  and  hear  Crockett  that 
provision  was  made  to  receive  him  in  the  public  square.  A 
stand  was  erected  and  covered  with  flags  which,  at  the  appointed 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT. 


241 


time,  Crockett  ascended  and  saw  upturned  before  him  the  largest 
gathering  of  faces  that  had  ever  before  assembled  in  the  city. 
The  meeting  was  very  much  greater,  it  is  stated,  than  that  which 
met  to  do  honor  to  Lafayette,  and  equally  demonstrative. 

The  triumphal  tour  was  ended  at  Louisville,  for  he  made  no 
more  stops  until  he  reached  the  shore  of  Tennessee,  at  Mill's 


CROCKETT'S  RECEPTION  AT  LOUISVILLE. 

Point,  where  he  was  met  by  his  son  William,  and  in  a  wagon 
started  for  his  home,  thirty-five  miles  distant,  In  concluding  an 
account  of  his  tour  he  writes :  — 

"  In  a  short  time  I  set  out  for  my  own  home;  yes,  my  own 
home,  my  own  soil,  my  own  humble  dwelling,  my  own  family, 
my  own  hearts,  my  ocean  of  love  and  affection  which  neither  cir- 
cumstances nor  time  can  dry  up.  Here,  like  the  wearied  bird, 
let  me  settle  down  for  awhile,  and  shut  out  the  world." 

16 


242 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST, 


CHAPTER    VIIL 


CROCKETT   AGAIN   ON   THE    STUMP. 

NERGYsuch  as  Crockett's,  abnormally 
stimulated,  as  it  had  been  by  the  posi- 
tion of  political  preferment  he  had 
attained,  and  the  outbursts  of  popular 
applause  and  hearty  commendation  of 
his  course  in  Congress  by  vast  crowds 
of  people  wherever  he  went,  could  not 
long  remain  pent  up,  or  be  confined 
to  the  now  dreary  pastime  of  what 
was  once  his  greatest  pleasure. 
Lonely,  miserable  in  the  wilderness  of 
his  home,  he  again  sought  excitement 
in  the  hunt.  The  new  rifle  and  its 
beautiful  accoutrements  were  brought  into  service,  but  he  used 
it  only  long  enough  to  prove  how  accurately  it  threw  a  ball,  and 
how  much  superior  it  was  to  the  old  flint-lock  that  had  served  him 
faithfully  in  many  a  contest  with  the  lordly  bears  of  his  forest 
home.  Then  he  turned  back  again  to  his  cabin,  hung  the  rifle  in 
a  rack  of  buck-horn  above  his  door,  to  gather  the  dust  of  time, 
and  sought  for  other  scenes  to  relieve  the  tedious  time  that  hung 
upon  his  hands. 

But  Crockett  was  not  only  oppressed  with  me  extreme  quiet  of 
his  surroundings  —  the  sudden  transition  by  which  he  was  snatch- 
as  it  were,  from  a  swirl  of  pleasurable  excitement  and  dropped 
into  the  wilderness  where  even  his  home  and  family  could  not 
charm  away  the  glamor  of  public  life  that,  like  an  ignis  fatuus, 
still  lured  him  towards  Washington  ;  his  restlessness  was  caused 
by  a  thirst  for  ambition,  the  attainment  of  a  position  far  above 
that  he  had  yet  occupied.  In  short,  Crockett  was  an  aspirant  for 
the  Presidency.  Ignorant,  in  book  learning,  though  he  knew 


LITE   OF  DAVY  CROCKETT.  243 

himself  to  be,  and  wholly  destitute  of  the  refinements  which  the 
chief  of  the  nation  should  possess,  yet  so  great  had  been  the 
manifestations  in  his  favor,  that  with  all  his  shortcomings  he  still 
believed  himself  available,  if  not  thoroughly  competent,  to  fill 
the  Presidential  chair. 

The  following  year  (1835)  saw  Crockett  again  in  the  field  for 
the  fourth  time  as  a  congressional  candidate,  his  opponent  being 
a  one-legged  man  named  Adam  Huntsman,  who  had  lost  his  limb 
in  a  battle  with  the  Indians  ten  years  before.  Under  ordinary 
circumstances  Crockett  could  easily  have  defeated  his  antagonist, 
but  unfortunately  he  lived  in  a  section  where  the  pro- Jackson  sen- 
timent was  overwhelmingly  dominant;  and  as  he  had  fought 
Jackson  in  public  and  private  and  with  a  vindictiveness  that  sub- 
ordinated all  public  questions,  a  feeling  was  excited  against  him, 
intensified  as  the  canvass  proceeded,  that  gave  him  unmistakable 
promise  of  his  defeat.  To  arrest  the  moving  tide  of  popular  dis- 
favor Crockett  resorted  to  every  expedient  that  suggested  itself, 
to  regain  his  waning  popularity.  He  went  about  in  his  district 
clothed  in  buckskin,  and  with  a  flint-lock  rifle  on  his  shoulder. 
Every  saloon  became  his  headquarters  and  every  joke  that  came 
into  his  mind  was  liauled  out,  burnished  up  with  new  regimentals 
and  put  on  detached  service.  He  made  much  sport  of  his  op- 
ponent, whom  he  dubbed  the  "  Flying  Dutchman,"  and  spoke 
many  a  gibe  and  perpetrated  scores  of  puns  on  Adam,  whom  he 
declared  was  * '  on  the  eve  of  an  almighty  thrashing. ' '  These  jokes 
made  the  people  laugh,  but  they  failed  of  their  better  purpose, 
to  make  them  forget  his  antagonism  to  Jackson,  particularly  as 
he  lost  no  occasion  to  attack  the  administration. 

CROCKETT'S  GREAT  COON-SKIN  TRICK. 

The  canvass  was  a  red-hot  one,  to  use  a  Western  expression,  and 
was  not  without  humorous  incidents  that  helped  much  to  sustain 
the  interest  that  had  been  excited.  Money  was  extremely  scarce, 
on  which  account  little  was  spent,  but  coon-skins,  which  were  its 
equivalent,  and  the  standard  medium  of  exchange,  were  put  into 
rapid  circulation  and  made  every  saloon  look  like  a  tannery?  for 


244  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

here  they  came  as  naturally  as  our  paper  currency  of  to-day  finds 
its  way  back  to  the  national  treasury  for  redemption. 

Crockett  thus  describes  a  laughable  incident,  characteristic  of 
his  resource  and  cunning,  that  occurred  during  the  canvass :  — 

"  But  I  am  losing  sight  of  my  story.  Well,  I  started  off  to 
the  Cross  Roads,  dressed  in  my  hunting  shirt,  and  my  rifle  on 
my  shoulder.  Many  of  our  constituents  had  assembled  there  to 
get  a  taste  of  the  quality  of  the  candidate  at  orating.  Job  Snell- 
ing,  a  gander-shanked  Yankee,  who  had  been  caught  somewhere 
about  Plymouth  Bay,  and  been  shipped  to  the  West  with  a  cargo 
of  codfish  and  rum,  erected  a  large  shantee,  and  set  up  shop  for 
the  occasion.  A  large  posse  of  the  voters  had  assembled  before 
I  arrived,  and  my  opponent  had  already  made  considerable  head- 
way with  his  speechifying  and  his  treating,  when  they  spied  me 
about  a  rifle  shot  from  the  camp,  sauntering  along  as  if  I  was  not 
a  party  in  business.  '  There  comes  Crockett,'  cried  one.  *  Let 
us  hear  the  Colonel,'  cried  another,  and  so  I  mounted  the  stump 
that  had  been  cut  down  for  the  occasion, and  began  to  bushwhack 
in  the  most  approved  style. 

"I  had  not  been  up  long  before  there  was  such  an  uproar  in 
the  crowd  that  I  could  not  hear  my  own  voice,  and  some  of  my 
constituents  let  me  know  that  they  could  not  listen  to  me  on 
such  a  dry  subject  as  the  welfare  of  the  nation,  until  they  had 
something  to  drink,  and  that  I  must  treat  them.  Accordingly  I 
jumped  down  from  the  rostrum,  and  led  the  way  to  the  shantee, 
followed  by  my  constituents,  shouting,  *  Huzza  for  Crockett,' 
and  *  Crockett  for  ever ! ' 

"  When  we  entered  the  shantee,  Job  was  busy  dealing  out  his 
rum  in  a  style  that  showed  he  was  making  a  good  day's  work  of 
it,  and  I  called. for  a  quart  of  the  best,  but  the  crooked  critur 
returned  no  other  answer  than  by  pointing  to  a  board  over  the 
bar,  on  which  he  had  chalked  in  large  letters,  *  Pay  to-day  and 
trust  to-morrow.'  Now  that  idea  brought  me  up  all  standing; 
it  was  a  sort  of  cornering  in  which  there  was  no  back  out,  for 
ready  money  in  the  West  in  those  times  was  the  shyest  thing  in 
all  natur,  and  it  was  most  particularly  shy  with  me  on  that  oc- 
casion. 

"  The  voters  seeing  my  predicament,  fell  off  to  the  other  side, 
and  I  was  left  deserted  and  alone,  as  the  government  will  be, 
when  he  no  longer  has  any  offices  to  bestow.  I  saw  as  plain 
day  that  the  tide  of  popular  opinion  was  against  me,  and  tin 
unless  I  got  some  rum  speedily  I  should  lose  my  election  as  sur< 


246  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

as  there  are  snakes  in  Virginny, —  and  it  must  be  done  soon,  or 
even  burnt  brandy  wouldn't  save  me.  So  I  walked  away  from 
the  shantee,  for  popularity  sometimes  depends  on  a  very  small 
matter  indeed ;  in  this  particular  it  was  worth  a  quart  of  New 
England  rum,  and  no  more. 

"  Well,  knowing  that  a  crisis  was  at  hand,  I  struck  into  the 
woods  with  my  rifle  on  my  shoulder,  my  best  friend  in  time  of 
need,  and  as  good  fortune  would  have  it,  I  had  not  been  out  more 
than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  I  treed  a  fat  coon,  and  in  the 
pulling  of  a  trigger,  he  lay  dead  at  the  root  of  the  tree.  I  soon 
whipped  his  hairy  jacket  off  his  back,  and  again  bent  my  steps 
towards  the  shantee,  and  walked  up  to  the  bar,  but  not  alone, 
for  this  time  I  had  half  a  dozen  of  my  constituents  at  my  heels. 
I  threw  down  the  coon  skin  upon  the  counter,  and  called  for  a 
quart,  and  Job,  though  busy  in  dealing  out  rum,  forgot  to  point 
at  his  chalked  rules  and  regulations,  for  he  knew  that  a  coon 
was  as  good  a  legal  tender  for  a  quart,  in  the  West,  as  a  New 
York  shilling,  any  day  in  the  year. 

"My  constituents  now  flocked  about  me,  and  cried,  *  Huzza 
for  Crockett,'  '  Crockett  for  ever,'  and  finding  the  tide  had 
taken  a  turn,  I  told  them  several  yarns,  to  get  them  in  a  good 
humor,  and  having  soon  dispatched  the  value  of  the  coon,  I  went 
out  and  mounted  the  stump,  without  opposition,  and  a  clear  ma- 
jority of  the  voters  followed  me  to  hear  what  I  had  to  offer  for 
the  good  of  the  nation.  Before  I  was  half  through,  one  of  my 
constituents  moved  that  they  would  hear  the  balance  of  my  speech 
after  they  had  washed  down  the  first  part  with  some  more  of  Job 
Snelling's  extract  of  cornstalk  and  molasses,  and  the  question  being 
put,  it  was  carried  unanimously.  It  wasn't  considered  necessary 
to  call  the  yeas  and  nays,  so  we  adjourned  to  the  shantee,  and  on 
the  way  I  began  to  reckon  that  the  fate  of  the  natior  pretty  much 
depended  upon  my  shooting  another  coon. 

"  While  standing  at  the  bar,  feeling  sort  of  bashful  while  Job's 
rules  and  regulations  stared  me  in  the  face,  I  cast  down  my  eyes, 
and  discovered  one  end  of  the  coon  skin  sticking  between  the  logs 
that  supported  the  bar.  Job  had  slung  it  there  in  the  hurry  of 
business.  I  gave  it  a  sort  of  quick  jerk,  and  it  followed  my  hand 
as  natural  as  if  I  had  been  the  rightful  owner.  I  slapped  it  on 
the  counter,  and  Job,  little  dreaming  that  he  was  barking  up  the 
wrong  tree,  shoved  along  another  bottle,  which  my  constituents 
quickly  disposed  of  with  great  good  humor,  for  some  of  them 
saw  the  trick,  and  then  we  withdrew  to  the  rostrum  to  discuss 
the  affairs  of  the  nation. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  247 

€t  I  don't  know  how  it  was,  but  the  voters  soon  became  dry 
again,  and  nothing  would  do,  but  we  must  adjourn  to  the  shantee, 
and  as  luck  would  have  it,  the  coon  skin  was  still  sticking  between 
the  logs,  as  if  Job  had  flung  it  there  on  purpose  to  tempt  me.  I 
was  not  slow  in  raising  it  to  the  counter,  the  rum  followed  of 
course,  and  I  wish  I  may  be  shot,  if  I  didn't,  before  the  day  was 
over,  get  ten  quarts  for  the  same  identical  skin.,  and  from  a  fel- 
low, too,  who  in  those  parts  was  considered  as  sharp  as  a  steel 
trap  and  as  bright  as  a  pewter  button." 

CROCKETT    OVERWHELMED    BY    HIS    DEFEAT. 

Crockett's  speeches  in  this  campaign  were  the  most  interest- 
ing he  had  ever  delivered.  His  wit  as  well  as  his  manners  had 
received  no  little  polish  during  the  two  terms  he  had  served  in 
Congress,  while  his  ambition  lent  wings  to  his  fancy  and  per- 
mitted him  to  soar  to  the  heights  of  eloquence.  But  all  his 
jokes,  philosophy,  reasoning  and  eloquence  availed  him  nothing, 
for  he  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  two  hundred  and  thirty 
votes.  The  returns  were  such  a  surprise  and  disappointment 
that  he  was  quite  overwhelmed,  and  his  chagrin  knew  no  bounds. 
Like  most  men  suffering  under  the  poignant  smart  of  cruel  defeat, 
Crockett  lay  all  his  misfortunes  at  the  door  of  an  unfair  election 
and  the  dishonorable,  knavish  acts  of  his  opponents.  With  a 
fairly  breaking  heart  he  bewailed  the  prospects  of  his  country's 
future,  that  to  him  now  appeared  as  if  enveloped  in  the  deep 
pall  of  eternal  night.  An  enemy  of  Jackson  before,  he  was 
now  vengeful  in  his  hatred  and  did  not  stop  short  of  charging 
the  President  with  using  the  government's  money  in  buying  up 
votes,  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  dollars  each,  against  him.  He 
declared,  too,  that  the  judges  were  bought  up,  and  took  their 
places  at  the  polls  with  pockets  filled  with  Huntsman  tickets, 
which  were  counted  in  the  result  after  the  polls  were  closed. 

Crockett  concludes  his  tirade  against  Jackson  and  his  enemies 
-  as  follows :  — 

"  As  my  country  no  longer  requires  my  services,  I  have  made 
up  my  mind  to  go  to  Texas.  My  life  has  been  one  of  danger, 
toil,  and  privation,  but  these  difficulties  I  had  to  encounter  at  a 
time  when  I  considered  it  nothing  more  than  right  good  sport  to 


248  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

surmount  them  ;  hut  now  I  start  anew  upon  my  own  hook,  and 
God  only  grant  that  it  may  be  strong  enough  to  support  the 
weight  that  may  be  hung  upon  it.  I  have  a  new  row  to  hoe,  a 
long  and  rough  one,  but  come  what  will  I'll  go  ahead.  *  *  * 
I  am  done  with  politics  and  you  may  all  go  to  hell,  and  I'll  go  to 
Texas/' 

But  though  these  were  his  public  utterances,  and  the  last  he 
made  to  his  constituents,  he  could  not  forego  the  application  of  a 
poetic  balm  to  his  deeply  wounded  feelings,  and  accordingly 
composed  the  following  lines,  which  he  sent  to  the  Nashville 
Banner  for  publication.  It  is  rather  bad  poetry,  but  splendid 
sentiment :  — 

Farewell  to  the  mountains  whose  mazes  to  me 
Were  more  beautiful  far  than  Eden  could  be ; 
No  fruit  was  forbidden,  but  nature  had  spread 
Her  bountiful  board,  and  her  children  were  fed. 
The  hills  were  our  garners  —  our  herds  wildly  grew, 
And  Nature  was  shepherd  and  husbandman  too, 
I  felt  like  a  monarch,  yet  thought  like  a  man, 
As  I  thanked  the  Great  Giver,  and  worshiped  his  plan. 

The  home  I  forsake  where  my  offspring  arose ; 
The  graves  I  forsake  where  my  children  repose. 
The  home  I  redeemed  from  the  savage  and  wild: 
The  home  I  have  loved  as  a  father  his  child; 
The  corn  that  I  planted,  the  fields  that  I  cleared, 
The  flocks  that  I  raised,  and  the  cabin  I  reared; 
The  wife  of  my  bosom  —  Farewell  to  ye  alii 
In  the  land  of  the  stranger  I  rise  or  I  fall. 

Farewell  to  my  country !  —  I  fought  for  thee  well, 

When  the  savage  rushed  forth  like  the  demons  from  hell. 

In  peace  or  in  war  I  have  stood  by  thy  side  — 

My  country,  for  thee  I  have  lived  —  would  have  died! 

But  I  am  cast  off — ray  career  now  is  run 

And  I  wander  abroad  like  the  prodigal  son  — 

Where  the  wild  savage  roves,  and  the  broad  prairies  spread, 

The  fallen  —  despised — will  again  go  ahead  I 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT. 


249 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CROCKETT  ENTERS  THE  WAR  FOR  TEXAS  INDEPENDENCE. 

Y  thermometer  stood  somewhat 
below  the  freezing  point  as  I  left 
my  wife  and  children  ;  still  there 
was  some  thawing  about  the  eye- 
lids, a  thing  that  had  not  taken 
place  since  I  first  ran  away  from 
my  fatheT's  house  when  a 
thoughtless  vagabond  boy.  I 
dressed  myself  in  a  clean  hunt- 
ing shirt,  put  on  a  new  fox-skin 
cap  with  the  tail  hanging  be- 
hind, took  hold  of  my  rifle  Betsey,  which  all  the  world  knows 
was  presented  to  me  by  the  patriotic  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  as 
a  compliment  for  my  unflinching  opposition  to  the  tyrannic 
measures  of  '  the  Government/  and  thus  equipped,  I  started  off 
with  a  heavy  heart  for  Mill's  Point,  to  take  steamboat  down  the 
Mississippi,  and  go  ahead  in  a  new  world." 

In  this  language  Crockett  describes  his  departure  from  home, 
and  in  search  of  excitement,  if  not  consolation,  in  the  wilds  and 
wars  of  Texas,  where  courage  might  win  for  him  public  favors 
that  were  denied  him  by  the  Jacksonians  of  Tennessee. 

He  took  passage  for  Little  Rock,  where  he  arrived  without 
adventure  in  three  days  and  sought  for  accommodations  at  the 
best  hotel  in  the  place,  which  was  poor  even  for  a  far  west  town. 
Going  up  the  street,  he  was  surprised  to  see  a  large  crowd  con- 
gregated in  front  of  the  hotel,  evidently  waiting  for  some  one, 
which,  by  reason  of  his  experience  in  Philadelphia,  Boston  and 
other  Eastern  cities,  led  him  to  believe  that  the  people  of  Little 
Rock  had  information  of  his  coming  and  had  assembled  to  ex- 
tend him  a  hearty  welcome.  He  therefore  began  to  collect  his 
thoughts  for  a  speech  and  was  full  primed  for  the  occasion  when 


250  STO&Y  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

he  reached  the  hotel.  But  here  he  was  surprised  for  a  second 
time,  because  the  people  gave  him  no  attention  whatever,  as  if 
unconscious  cf  the  existence  of  such  a  man  as  Davy  Crockett. 

THE  PUNCH   AND  JUDY  EXHIBITION. 

Men  are  often  brought  to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  true  measure 
of  their  importance  by  common-place  incidents,  and  when  lowered 
to  their  real  level  are  sometimes  like  a  large  bubble  floating  down 
a  stream  that  bursts  when  it  strikes  an  obstruction.  They  still 
float  on,  but  have  lost  their  identity.  Though  Crockett  may  not 
be  likened  to  the  emptiness  of  a  bubble,  he  felt  quite  as  unsub- 
stantial upon  discovering  that  the  crowd  had  gathered  to  welcome 
a  juggler  who  had  come  to  regale  them  with  some  small  tricks 
and  a  Punch  and  Judy  exhibition.  Thus  does  greatness  some- 
times stumble  upon  its  counterpart. 

It  happened  that  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  performance  was 
announced  to  take  place,  that  the  orchestral  portion  of  the  com- 
pany—  which  was  composed  exclusively  of  a  one-legged  fid- 
dler—  was  too  drunk  for  service,  and  had  crawled  into  a  neigh- 
boring hay-loft  to  rest.  Without  a  fiddler  it  was  impossible  to  go 
on  with  the  show,  and  as  several  tickets  of  admission  had  already 
been  disposed  of,  there  was  a  lively  threatening  by  those  who  had 
paid  their  money,  and  a  confiscation  of  the  paraphernalia  used  in 
the  performance  was  imminent,  and  which  was  only  prevented  by  a 
fortunate  arrival,  in  the  person  of  an  original  Arkansaw  character. 
This  man  was  the  long,  lank,  frizzled- featured  specimen  of  in- 
dividual "  from  away  back."  His  pants  were  yellow  and  his 
coat  was  long,  while  his  hat  had  seen  better  days,  but  it  was  evi- 
dently a  long  time  ago  ;  so  was  it  a  dreary  time  since  last  his 
locks  were  combed  and  his  saffron  face  washed.  But  if  his 
toilet  was  somewhat  melancholy,  his  countenance  was  mild  and 
and  his  tones  full  of  sympathy.  He  drove  up  in  a  mud-bespat- 
tered sulky,  with  three  spokes  out  of  each  wheel,  but  there  were 
no  ribs  missing  in  his  horse,  for  they  were  all  plain  to  be  seen.  In 
•iis  way-worn  vehicle  he  carried  many  pamphlets  of  his  own  com- 
position, while  over  the  back  of  it  was  th-rown  a  crazy  flannel 
undershirt  that  he  had  washed  at  the  last  brook  passed  aud  Lung 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  251 

there  to  dry.  His  prof ession  was  a  composite  one;  that  is  to 
say,  it  was  a  blending  of  preacher,  lecturer,  author,  bookseller, 
fiddler  and  missionary  generally.  When  preaching  was  poor  he 
often  turned  a  penny  at  lecturing  and  when  neither  accomplish- 
ment could  be  turned  to  account  he  would  dispose  of  a  book, 
whenever  fortune  assisted  him  to  make  a  sale ;  but  should  all  of 
these  fail  him  he  had  recourse  to  his  fiddle,  his  great  soul-har- 
monizer  which,  however,  he  kept  carefully  secreted  in  a  box 
under  the  bed  of  his  vehicle,  lest  a  sight  of  it  at  an  inopportune 
time  might  interfere  with  the  success  of  his  other  professions. 

Crockett  describes  what  followed  the  arrival  of  the  moral  lec- 
turer in  his  own  inimitable  way :  — 

"  The  landlord  now  made  his  appearance,  and  gave  a  hearty 
welcome  to  the  reverend  traveler,  and  shaking  him  by  the  hand 
added,  that  he  never  came  more  opportunely  in  all  his  life. 

"  '  Opportunely!  '  exclaimed  the  philosopher. 

"  '  Yes,'  rejoined  the  other;  '  you  have  a  heart  and  head  that 
jboT  for  the  benefit  of  us  poor  mortals.' 

"  '  Oh  !  true,  an  excellent  market  for  my  pamphlets,'  replied 
the  other,  at  the  same  time  beginning  to  open  the  trunk  that  lay 
before  him. 

"  *  You  misunderstand  me,'  added  the  landlord.  'A  poor 
showman  with  a  sick  wife  and  five  children  has  arrived  from  New 
Orleans ' 

'"I  will  sell  my  pamphlets  to  relieve  their  wants,  and  endeavor 
to  teach  them  resignation.' 

"  '  He  exhibits  to-night  in  my  large  room ;  you  know  the  room, 
sir  —  I  let  him  have  it  gratis.' 

"  'You  are  an  honest  fellow.  I  will  witness  his  show,  and 
add  my  mite  to  his  assistance.' 

"  '  But,'  replied  the  innkeeper,  'the  lame  fiddler  is  fond  of  the 
bottle,  and  is  now  snoring  in  the  hayloft.' 

"  'Degrading  vice !  '  exclaimed  the  old  man,  and  taking  "  God's 
Revenge  against  Drunkenness"  from  the  trunk,  and  standing 
erect  in  the  sulky,  he  commenced  reading  to  his  astonished 
audience.  The  innkeeper  interrupted  him  by  observing  that  the 
homily  would  not  fill  the  empty  purse  of  the  poor  showman  and 
unless  a  fiddler  could  be  obtained,  he  must  depend  on  charity,  or 
go  supperless  to  bed.  And  moreover,  the  people,  irritated  at 
their  disappointment,  had  threatened  to  tear  the  show  to  pieces. 


252  STORY   OF    THE   WILD   WEST. 

*' '  But  what's  to  be  done?  '  demanded  the  parson. 

"'Your  reverence  shakes  an  excellent  bow,'  added  the  ini* 
keeper,  in  an  insinuating  tone. 

" '  I ! '  exclaimed  the  parson ;   '  I  fiddle  for  a  puppet  show !  ' 

"  '  Not  for  the  puppet  show,  but  for  the  sick  wife  and  five 
hungry  children.* 

"  A  tear  started  into  the  eyes  of  the  old  man,  as  he  added  in  an 
under  tone,  '  If  I  could  be  concealed  from  the  audience — ' 

"'Nothing  easier,'  cried  the  other;  <  we  will  place  you  be- 
hind the  scenes,  and  no  one  will  ever  dream  that  you  fiddled  at 
a  puppet  show.' 

"  The  matter  being  thus  settled  they  entered  the  house,  and 
shortly  after  the  sound  of  a  fiddle,  squeaking  like  a  giggling  girl 
tickled  into  ecstasies,  restored  mirth  and  good  humcr  to  the  dis- 
appointed assemblage,  who  rushed  in,  helter-skelter,  to  enjcy 
the  exhibition. 

"  All  being  seated,  and  silence  restored,  they  waited  in  breath- 
less expectation  for  the  rising  of  the  curtain.  At  length  Harle- 
quin made  his  appearance,  and  performed  astonishing  featfe  cf 
activity  on  the  slack-rope ;  turning  somersets  backward  and  for- 
ward, first  on  this  side,  and  then  on  that,  with  as  much  ease  as 
if  he  had  been  a  politician  all  his  life,  —  the  parson  sawing  vig- 
orously on  his  fiddle  all  the  time.  Punch  followed,  and  set  the 
audience  in  a  roar  with  his  antic  tricks  and  jests:  but  when  Judy 
entered  with  her  broomstick  the  burst  pf  applause  was  as  great 
as  ever  I  heard  bestowed  upon  one  of  Benton's  slang-whang 
speeches  in  Congress,  and  I  rather  think  quite  as  well  merited. 

"  As  the  plot  thickened,  the  music  of  the  parson  became  mere 
animated ;  but  unluckily  in  the  warmth  of  his  zeal  to  do  justice 
to  his  station,  his  elbow  touched  the  side  scene,  which  fell  to 
the  floor,  and  exposed  him,  working  away  in  all  the  ecstasies  of 
little  Isaac  Hill,  while  reading  one  of  his  long  orations  about 
things  in  general  to  empty  benches.  No  ways  disconcerted  by 
the  accident,  the  parson  seized  upon  it  as  a  fine  opportunity  of 
conveying  a  lesson  to  those  around  him,  at  the  same  time  that  he 
might  benefit  a  fellow  mortal.  He  immediately  mounted  the 
'chair  upon  which  he  was  seated,  and  addressed  the  aadience  to 
the  following  effect :  — 

"  'Many  of  you  have  come  here  for  amusement,  and  others  no 
doubt  to  assist  the  poor  man,  who  is  thus  struggling  to  obtain  a 
subsistence  for  his  sick  wife  and  children.  Lo !  the  moral  of  a 
puppet  showl  But  is  this  all?  Has  he  not  rendered  unto 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT. 


253 


your  money's  worth  ?     This  is  not  charity.     If  you  are  charitably 
inclined,  here  is  an  object  fully  deserving  of  it.' 

* '  He  preached  upon  this  text  for  full  half  an  hour,  and  concluded 
with  taking  his  hat  to  collect  assistance  from  his  hearers  for  the 
friendless  showman  and  his  family. 


THE   PHILANTHROPIST   IN   AN    EMBARRASSING    SITUATION. 

"  The  next  morning,  when  his  sulky  was  brought  to  the  door, 
the  showman  and  his  wife  came  out  to  thank  their  benefactor. 
The  old  man  placed  his  trunk  of  pamphlets  before  him,  and  pro- 
ceeded on  his  pilgrimage,  the  little  children  following  him 
through  the  village  with  bursts  of  gratitude," 


254  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WESTo 

CROCKETT   IS    BANQUETED THE    BASS-DRUM   AND   FIFE    OR- 
CHESTRA. 

On  the  day  after  Crockett's  arrival  in  Little  Rock  his  identity 
was  discovered,  and  immediately  preparations  were  made  by  the 
leading  citizens  to  formally  "  recognize  "  him.  He  had  been 
banqueted  a  hundred  times  in  the  North,  and  it  occurred  to  the 
citizens  that  similar  treatment  would  not  be  offensive,  especially 
if  due  care  were  taken  that  the  liquor  didn't  give  out.  To  pro- 
vide for  this  affair  a  big  fat  bear,  a  deer,  wild  turkeys  and  small 
game  in  abundance,  were  purchased  and  given  over  to  the  hotel 
landlord  to  prepare  for  the  table.  The  only  thing  now  wanting 
to  make  the  occasion  complete  was  a  band  of  music,  but  unfortu- 
nately this  was  an  article  not  purchasable  at  Little  Eock,  but 
by  persistent  foraging  a  bass-drum  and  a  beater,  and  a  fife  and 
fifer,  were  brought  into  service  that  answered  well  enough  under 
the  circumstances.  When  the  banquet  was  ready,  the  guests 
arranged  themselves  in  double  file  with  Crockett  and  the  mayor 
at  the  head,  and  marched  into  the  dining-room.  As  they  entered 
the  orchestra  set  up,  playing,  "  See  the  Conquering  Hero  Comes." 

Crockett  thus  describes  the  exercises  that  followed  the  feast- 
ing: — 

"The  fragments  of  the  meats  being  cleared  off,  we  went 
through  the  customary  evolution  of  drinking  thirteen  regular 
toasts,  after  every  one  of  which  our  drum  with  the  loose  skin 
grumbled  like  an  old  horse  with  an  empty  stomach;  and  our 
asthmatic  fife  squeaked  like  a  stuck  pig,  a  spirit-stirring  tune, 
which  we  put  off  christening  until  we  should  come  to  prepare 
our  proceedings  for  posterity.  The  fife  appeared  to  have  but 
one  tune  in  it ;  possibly  it  might  have  had  more,  but  the  poor 
fifer,  with  all  his  puffing  and  blowing,  his  too-too-tooing,  and 
shaking  his  head  and  elbow,  could  not,  for  the  body  and  soul  of 
him,  get  more  than  one  out  of  it.  If  the  fife  had  had  an  extra 
tune  to  its  name,  sartin  it  wouldn't  have  been  quite  so  hide-bound 
on  such  an  occasion,  but  let  us  have  it,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent. 
We  warn't  particular  by  no  means." 

CROCKETT  AGAIN  MEETS  THE  FIDDLING  PARSON. 

Crockett's  stay  of  three  days  in  Little  Rock  was  made  pleasant 
by  every  attention  the  citizens  could  show  him,  their  desire  to 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  255 

accord  him  the  fullest  hospitality  extending  so  far  that  they  got 
up  a  shooting  match  to  which  the  best  marksmen  in  the  vicinity 
were  invited,  all  of  whom,  with  true  Southern  courtesy,  permittee* 
themselves  to  be  beaten  by  their  guest. 

He  tried  to  induce  several  gentlemen  of  the  place  to  join  him 
in  an  expedition  to  Texas,  but  though  they  were  in  full  sympathy 
with  the  movement  to  establish  the  independence  of  the  Lone- 
Star  State,  they  pleaded  many  excuses  for  not  joining  in  the 
struggle,  but  five  of  them  consented  to  accompany  him,  as  a  kind 
of  escort,  on  his  journey  as  far  as  the  Ouachita  River,  fifty  miles 
from  Little  Rock. 

The  party  was  a  gay  one,  their  natural  good  spirits  being  in- 
creased by  several  friendly  bottles  that  kissed  their  lips  with  great 
frequency,  and  put  them  on  good  terms  with  all  of  the  world 
They  pushed  on  with  fair  speed  and  towards  evening  approached 
the  fording  place  of  the  river,  but  when  about  to  descend  the 
bank  there  fell  upon  their  ears  a  sound  of  music,  faint  but  ex- 
quisitely sweet.  The  party  stopped  and  listened  in  a  kind  of 
mysterious  awe,  and  heard  floating  down  the  blue  waters  that 
inspiring  patriotic  air,  "  Hail  Columbia."  What  could  it  mean? 
Suddenly  the  tune  was  changed,  and  there  came  the  sweet,  clear 
and  brisk  notes  of  "  Over  the  Water  to  Charley."  This  tune 
never  failed  to  awaken  an  echo  in  the  hearts  of  pioneers  in  the 
early  days,  and  Crockett  dashed  forward  under  the  thrilling  im- 
pulse to  discover  from  whence  the  dulcet  sounds  proceeded. 
Reaching  the  crossing  what  was  his  astonishment  to  discover  a 
man  seated  in  a  sulky  in  the  middle  of  the  shallow  stream,  play- 
ing for  dear  life  on  a  fiddle.  The  horse  was  standing  as  if  in 
deep  revery  half  covered  with  water,  while  the  flimsy  vehicle  ap- 
peared to  be  on  the  point  of  going  to  pieces.  "Still  the  man 
fiddled  on  composedly,  as  if  his  life  had  been  insured,  and  he 
was  nothing  more  than  a  passenger.  «  We  thought,'  said  Crock- 
ett, « he  was  mad  and  shouted  to  him.  He  heard  us,  and 
stopped  his  music.  *  You  have  missed  the  crossing,'  shouted 
one  of  the  men  from  the  clearing.  *  I  know  I  have,'  returned 
the  fiddler.  «  If  you  go  ten  feet  farther  you  will  be  drowned/ 


256 


8TOBY   OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 


'I  know  I  shall,'  returned  the  fiddler.  '  Turnback,'  said  the 
man.  'I  can't,'  said  the  other.  'Then  how  the  devil  will  you 
get  out?'  '  I'm  sure  I  don't  know:  come  you  and  help  me.' 
"The  men  from  the  clearing,  who  understood  the  river,  took 
our  horses  and  rode  up  to  the  sulky,  aad  after  some  difficulty  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  the  traveler  safe  to  shore,  when  we  recognized 
the  worthy  parson  who  had  fiddled  for  us  at  the  puppet  show  at 
Little  Kock.  They  told  him  that  he  had  had  a  narrow  escape, 
and  he  replied  that  he  had  found  that  out  an  hour  ago.  He  said 


THE    FIDDLING   PARSON   ATTRACTING   UNIVERSAL   NATUR. 

he  had  been  fiddling  to  the  fishes  for  a  full  hour,  and  had  ex- 
hausted all  the  tunes  that  he  could  play  without  notes.  We  then 
asked  him  what  could  have  induced  him  to  think  of  fiddling  at  a 
time  of  such  peril;  and  he  replied,  that  he  had  remarked  in  his 
progress  through  life,  that  there  was  nothing  in  universal  natui 
so  well  calculated  to  draw  people  together  as  the  sound  of  a 
fiddle ;  and  he  knew  that  he  might  bawl  until  he  was  hoarse  for 
assistance,  and  no  one  would  stir  a  peg;  but  they  would  no  boonej 


LIFE    OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  257 

hear  the  scraping  of  his  catgut  than  they  would  quit  all  other 
business,  and  come  to  the  spot  in  flocks." 

A  STAG  DANCE  IN  THE  LONELY  WOODS. 

The  parson  had  interpreted  the  hearts  of  Arkansaw  gentlemen 
with  extraordinary  fidelity,  for  the  fiddle's  appeal  was  as  effective 
in  that  section  in  those  days,  as  the  voice  of  an  angel.  Its 
notes  were  the  links  that  composed  the  cord  binding  all  nature 
together  in  one  universal  soul,  the  essence  of  poetry,  patriotism, 
frolic  and  sentiment. 

Though  in  the  lonely  woods  and  remote  from  any  house  or  in- 
dication of  civilization  the  parson's  fiddle  had  so  cheered  Crockett 
and  his  companions  that  a  dance  was  proposed,  in  which  all 
heartily  participated  on  the  green  sward  until  the  musician's  store 
of  tunes  was  exhausted.  After  this  exhibition  of  hilarious  de- 
light was  concluded,  Crockett's  companions  bade  him  adieu  and 
returned  to  Little  Rock,  while  he  journeyed  on  with  the  parson, 
whom  he  found  so  agreeable  that  he  pays  the  following  eloquent 
tribute  to  his  goodly  influence:  — 

* '  I  kept  in  company  with  the  parson  until  we  arrived  at  Green- 
ville, and  I  do  say,  he  was  just  about  as  pleasant  an  old  gentle- 
man to  travel  with  as  any  man  who  wasn't  too  darned  particular 
could  ask  for.  We  talked  about  politics,  religion,  and  nature, 
farming,  and  bear  hunting,  and  the  many  blessings  that  an  all 
bountiful  providence  has  bestowed  upon  our  happy  country.  He 
continued  to  talk  upon  this  subject,  traveling  over  the  whole 
ground  as  it  were,  until  his  imagination  glowed,  and  his  soul  be- 
came full  to  overflowing;  and  he  checked  his  horse,  and  I  stopped 
mine  also,  and  a  stream  of  eloquence  burst  forth  from  his  aged 
lips,  such  as  I  have  seldom  listened  to:  it  came  from  the  over- 
flowing fountain  of  a  pure  and  grateful  heart.  We  were  alone 
in  the  wilderness,  but  as  he  proceeded,  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  the 
tall  trees  bent  their  tops  to  listen; — that  the  mountain  stream 
laughed  out  joyfully  as  it  bounded  on  like  some  living  thing; 
that  the  faded  flowers  of  autumn  smiled,  and  sent  forth  fresher 
fragrance,  as  if  conscious  that  they  would  revive  in  spring,  and 
even  the  sterile  rocks  seemed  to  be  endowed  with  some  mysterious 
influence.  We  were  alone  in  the  wilderness,  but  all  things  told 
me  that  God  was  there.  The  thought  renewed  my  strength  and 
courage.  I  had  left  my  country,  felt  somewhat  like  an  outcast, 

11 


258  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

believed  that  I  had  been  neglected  and  lost  sight  of ;  but  I  was  now 
conscious  that  there  was  still  one  watchful  Eye  over  me  no  matter 
whether  I  dwelt  in  the  populous  cities,  or  threaded  the  pathless 
forest  alone  ;  no  matter  whether  I  stood  in  the  high  places  among 
men,  or  made  my  solitary  lair  in  the  untrodden  wild,  that  Eye 
was  still  upon  me.  My  very  soul  leaped  joyfully  at  the  thought ; 
I  never  felt  so  grateful  in  all  my  life.  I  never  loved  my  God  so 
sincerely  in  all  my  life.  I  felt  that  I  still  had  a  friend. 

"  When  the  old  man  finished,  I  found  that  my  eyes  were  wet 
with  tears.  I  approached  and  pressed  his  hand,  and  thanked  him, 
and  says  I, «  Now  let  us  take  a  drink.'  I  set  him  the  example,  and 
he  followed  it,  and  in  a  style  too  that  satisfied  me,  that  if  he  had 
ever  belonged  to  a  temperance  society,  he  had  either  renounced 
membership  or  obtained  a  dispensation." 

The  two  journeyed  together  as  far  as  Greenville,  where  Crockett 
bade  the  parson  an  affectionate  good-bye  and  then  pushed  on 
alone  for  Fulton,  at  which  place  he  arrived  in  due  season  and  was 
received  in  a  most  hospitable  manner  by  gentlemen  to  whom  he 
presented  letters  of  introduction.  Here  he  embarked  on  a 
steamer  for  Natchitoches  that  was  well  loaded  with  a  heteroge- 
neous cargo  of  passengers:  white  and  black,  sober  and  drunk, 
vulgar  and  saintly,  thieves  and  honest  men.,  sharpers  and  gul- 
libles. 

CROCKETT  EXPOSES  THE  GAMBLER. 

The  boat  had  hardly  gotten  well  under  way  before  a  gambling 
juggler  set  up  his  devices  for  fleecing  such  dupes  as  might  be 
allured  into  his  game.  A  table  was  set  in  the  forward  cabin  upon 
which  he  placed  his  hat  and  three  thimbles,  under  one  of  which 
he  deposited  a  pea.  Having  made  these  preliminaries  in  plain 
view  of  the  crowd  that  gathered  about  him,  he  made  his  offers  to 
bet  that  no  one  could  guess  under  which  thimble  the  pea  would 
be  found.  This  he  called  the  game  of  "  thimblerig,"  and  so 
well  did  he  play  it,  and  so  numerous  were  the  fools  about  him, 
that  for  several  minutes  he  was  reaping  a  golden  harvest  of  such 
grain  as  would  not  require  thrashing  before  using. 

Crockett  moved  over  from  a  seat  he  had  occupied  on  the  fore- 
castle to  the  crowd  of  greedy  speculators  and  amused  himself  for 
a  time  watching  the  game  and  studying  the  greenhorns,  Seeing 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT. 


259 


that  he  was  much  interested,  the  gambler  at  length  asked  Crockett 
to  try  his  ski^l  at  guessing,  offering  to  wager  a  round  sum  that 
he  could  not  locate  the  pea.  But  Crockett  declined  the  invita- 
tion by  declaring  that  he  never  gambled,  and  was  opposed  to  the 
practice  on  principle.  This  confession  of  virtue  did  not  dis- 
courage the  gambler,  who  insisted  that  his  game  was  only  one  of 


CROCKETT    DISCOMFITS    THE   GAMBLER. 

innocent  amusement,  with  a  small  stake  only  to  make  it  a  little 
more  interesting. 

Having  observed  that  the  gambler  invariably  permitted  his  vic- 
tim to  win  the  first  bets  in  order  to  establish  confidence  and  in- 
crease the  stakes,  and  being  persistently  begged  to  hazard  a 
small  sum,  at  least,  on  his  skill  as  a  guesser,  Crockett  at  length 


260  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

offered  to  bet  the  drinks  for  the  crowd  that  he  could  lift  the  thim- 
ble which  covered  the  pea.  Though  the  wager  was  not  a  profit- 
ble  one  to  the  gambler  even  should  he  win  it,  yet  with  the  hope 
that  it  might  encourage  Crockett  to  make  a  larger  bet,  he  accepted 
it  and  began  juggling  with  the  thimbles  and  pea,  but  with  no  in- 
tention of  deceiving  Crockett,  whom  he  believed  must  soon  be 
another  of  his  victims.  At  length  he  placed- the  thimbles  in  a 
row  and  asked  which  one  covered  the  pea;  Crockett  promptly 
lifted  the  middle  thimble  and,  sure  enough,  there  lay  the  pea,  and 
the  gambler  with  equal  promptness  acknowledged  that  he  had  fairly 
lost. 

But  having  lost,  he  praised  Crockett's  quick  eye  and  offered 
to  make  another  bet  of  a  sum  of  money  that  he  could  not  make 
a  second  successful  guess;  this,  however,  Crockett  obstinately 
declined,  and  insisted  on  the  payment  of  the  wager  he  had  won, 
at  the  same  time  taunting  the  gambler  in  such  facetious  manner 
that  the  crowd  roared  with  laughter.  The  discomfited  gamester 
soon  saw  that  he  had  caught  a  Tartar  and  was  glad  enough  to  stop 
the  waggish  raillery  of  Crockett  by  ordering  the  bar-keeper  to 
set  out  liquor  for  everybody.  While  the  crowd  was  preparing  to 
drink  some  one  proposed  a  toast  to  the  man  who  could  beat  a 
gambler  at  his  own  game,  to  which  Crockett  replied  in  a  humor- 
ous speech  that  betrayed  his  identity.  When  it  was  learned  that 
Davy  Crockett  was  their  fellow-passenger,  every  one  on  board 
forgot  all  about  the  gambler  and  gave  him  their  individual  atten- 
tion, which  he  repaid  with  many  a  pleasing  joke  and  laughable 
anecdote  as  well  as  political  diatribes  that  expressed  his  feelings 
against  Jackson  and  his  enemies  back  in  Tennessee.  The  game- 
ster himself  became  merry  under  Crockett's  humorous  sayings, 
and  at  length  sought  him  in  quiet  and  gave  him  such  an  account 
of  his  own  wanderings  that  the  two  became  very  intimate  before 
the  trip  was  concluded. 

THE  JUGGLER  FOLLOWS  CROCKETT  TO  TEXAS. 


Finding  the  juggler  a  well-meaning  man,  outside  his  profession, 
Crockett  undertook  to  convert  him  into  ways  of  rectitude  by  ap- 


OF  DAVY  CROCKETT.  261 

pealing  to  his  better  nature.  Said  he:  "  It  is  a  burlesque  on  hu- 
man nature,  that  an  able-bodied  man  possessed  of  your  share  of 
good  sense,  should  voluntarily  debase  himself,  and  be  indebted 
for  subsistence  to  such  a  pitiful  artifice." 

"  But  what's  to  be  done,  Colonel?  "  he  replied.  "I'm  in  the 
slough  of  despond,  up  to  the  very  chin.  A  miry  and  slippery 
path  to  travel." 

"  Then  hold  your  head  up  before  the  slough  reaches  your 
lips,"  retorted  Crockett 

«*  But  what's  the  use?  "  said  he:  "  it's  utterly  impossible  for 
me  to  wade  through ;  and  even  if  I  could,  I  should  be  in  such  a 
dirty  plight  that  it  would  defy  all  the  waters  in  the  Mississippi 
to  wash  me  clean  again,  No,"  he  added  in  a  desponding  tone, 
"  I  should  be  like  a  live  eel  in  a  frying-pan,  Colonel,  sort  of  out 
of  my  element,  if  I  attempted  to  live  like  an  honest  man  at  this 
time  o'  day." 

"  That  I  deny,"  replied  Crockett.  "  It  is  never  too  late  to  be- 
come honest.  But  even  admit  what  you  say  to  be  true — that 
you  cannot  live  like  an  honest  man  —  you  have  at  least  the  next 
best  thing  in  your  power,  and  no  one  can  say  nay  to  it." 

"And  what  is  that?" 

"Die  like  a  brave  one.  And  I  know  not  whether,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  a  brilliant  death  is  not  preferable  to  an  obscure 
life  of  rectitude.  Most  men  are  remembered  as  they  died,  and 
not  as  they  lived.  We  gaze  with  admiration  upon  the  glories 
of  the  setting  sun,  yet  scarcely  bestow  a  passing  glance  upon  its 
noonday  splendor." 

"  You  are  right ;  but  how  is  this  to  be  done?  " 

"  Accompany  me  to  Texas,'  was  the  reply.  "  Cut  aloof  from 
your  degrading  habits  and  associates  here,  and,  in  fighting  for 
the  freedom  of  the  Texans,  regain  your  own." 

"  The  man  seemed  much  moved.  He  caught  up  his  gambling 
instruments,  thrust  them  into  his  pocket,  with  hasty  strides 
traversed  the  floor  two  or  three  times,  and  then  exclaimed:  — 

"  By  heaven,  I  will  try  to  be  a  man  again.  I  will  live  hoo- 
estly,  or  die  bravely.  I  will  go  with  you  to  Texas." 


262  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

THE  BEE  HUNTER  AND  HIS  NERVE. 

At  Natchitoches,  Crockett  encountered  another  very  singular 
character.  He  was  a  remarkably  handsome  young  man,  of  poetic 
imagination,  a  sweet  singer,  and  with  innumerable  scraps  of 
poetry  and  of  song  ever  at  his  tongue's  end.  Honey-trees,  as 
they  were  called,  were  very  abundant  in  Texas.  The  prairies 
were  almost  boundless  parterres  of  the  richest  flowers,  from 
which  the  bees  made  large  quantities  of  the  most  delicious  honey. 
This  they  deposited  in  the  hollows  of  trees.  Not  only  was  the 
honey  valuable,  but  the  wax  constituted  a  very  important  article 
of  commerce  in  Mexico,  and  brought  a  high  price,  being  used  for 
immense  candles  which  are  burned  in  the  churches.  The  bee- 
hunter,  finding  his  profession  very  profitable,  followed  it  until 
he  became  wonderfully  adept  in  finding  bees  and  following  them 
to  their  hives. 

The  meeting  of  Crockett  and  the  bee-hunter  was  under  rather 
romantic  circumstances.  Natchitoches  was  a  small  river  town, 
consisting  of  a  single  dirty  street  and  a  dozen  saloons.  It  was 
nearly  identical  in  character  with  Natchez-under-the-hill,  a  famous 
headquarters  for  gamblers  and  debased  specimens  of  humanity 
fifty  years  ago.  Though  his  surroundings  were  extremely  re- 
pulsive, the  heart  of  the  bee-hunter  was  cheerful  as  a  bird  in 
mating-time.  Crockett  was  first  attracted  to  him  by  his  sweet 
songs,  which  he  was  singing  early  on  the  morning  following 
Crockett's  arrival  in  the  place.  The  man  was  leaning  up  against 
a  sign-post,  apparently  in  a  deep  reverie,  and  singing  as  if  trying 
to  forget  some  secret  sorrow.  He  was  light  and  graceful  in 
figure,  and  his  trim  form  was  set  off  exceedingly  well  by  the 
fringed  hunting-shirt  and  buckskin  pants  that  he  wore.  In  his 
hands  he  held  a  polished  rifle,  while  across  his  shoulders  was 
slung  a  hunting-pouch  and  powder-horn  embellished  with  Indian 
ornaments. 

Crockett  had  been  aroused  at  an  unusually  early  hour  by  an 
interminable  din  which,  upon  investigation,  he  learned  proceeded 
from  an  irate  local  politician,  who  had  just  discovered  that  his 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  263 

horse  had  been  stolen,  and  was  berating  everybody  because  of 
his  misfortune.  As  Crockett  came  out  of  the  tavern  he  saw  the 
enraged  citizen  flourishing  a  whip,  followed  by  a  dozen  men  who 
were  trying  to  console  him,  but  disdaining  their  sympathy  and 
cursing  them  soundly  on  general  principles,  he  went  on  until  he 
perceived  the  bee-hunter,  whose  songs  and  placid  temper  ap- 
peared to  increase  his  excitement  to  the  point  of  explosion. 
Crockett  thus  describes  the  encounter:  The  politician,  assuming 
a  threatening  attitude,  exclaimed  fiercely :  — 

"  You're  an  infernal  scoundrel,  do  you  hear?  an  infernal 
scoundrel,  sir!  " 

"  I  do;  but  it's  news  to  me,"  replied  the  other  quietly. 

"  News,  you  scoundrel !  do  you  call  it  news?  " 

"Entirely  so." 

"  You  needn't  think  to  carry  it  off  so  quietly.  I  say,  you're 
an  infernal  scoundrel,  and  I'll  prove  it." 

"  I  beg  you  will  not;  I  shouldn't  like  to  be  proved  a  scoun- 
drel," replied  the  other,  smiling  with  the  most  provoking  indif- 
ference. 

"No,  I  dare  say  you  wouldn't.  But  answer  me  directly  — 
did  you,  or  did  you  not  say,  in  the  presence  of  certain  ladies  of 
my  acquaintance,  that  I  was  a  mere " 

"  Calf?     O,  no,  sir ;  the  truth  is  not  to  be  spoken  at  all  times." 

"  The  truth !     Do  you  presume  to  call  me  a  calf,  sir  ?  " 

"  O,  no,  sir;  I  call  you  —  nothing,"  replied  the  stranger,  just 
as  cool  and  as  pleasant  as  a  morning  in  spring. 

"It's  well  you  do;  for  if  you  had  presumed  to  call  me " 

"  A  man,  I  should  have  been  grossly  mistaken." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  I  am  not  a  man,  sir?  " 

*'  That  depends  upon  circumstances." 

"  What  circumstances?  "  demanded  the  other  fiercely. 

44  If  I  should  be  called  as  a  witness  in  a  court  of  justice,  I 
should  be  bound  to  speak  the  truth." 

"  And  you  would  say  I  was  not  a  man,  hey?  Do  you  see  this 
oo  w- skin?" 

'•  7«o-,  and  1  nave  seen  it  wiiii  surprise  ever  *iu<v*  you  came 


264  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

up,"  replied  the  stranger,  calmly,  at  the  same  time  handing  me 
his  rifle  to  take  care  of. 

"  With  surprise!  "  exclaimed  the  politician,  who  saw  that  his 
antangonist  had  voluntarily  disarmed  himself.  "  Why,  did  you 
suppose  that  I  was  such  a  coward  that  I  dare  not  use  the  article 
when  I  thought  it  was  demanded?  " 

"  Shall  I  tell  you  what  I  thought?" 

"  Do,  if  you  dare." 

"  I  thought  to  myself  what  use  has  a  calf  for  a  cow-skin?" 
He  turned  to  me,  and  said:  "I  had  forgot,  Colonel,  shall  I 
trouble  you  to  take  care  of  this  also?  "  Saying  which  he  drew 
a  long  hunting  knife  from  his  belt,  and  placed  it  in  my  hand. 
He  then  resumed  his  careless  attitude  against  the  sign-post. 

"  You  distinctly  call  me  a  calf,  then?  " 

"  If  you  insist  upon  it,  you  may." 

"  You  hear,  gentlemen,"  said  he,  speaking  to  the  by-standers. 
"  Do  you  hear  the  insult  ?  What  shall  I  do  with  the  scoundrel  ? ' ' 

"Dress  him,  dress  him  I  "  exclaimed  twenty  voices,  with 
shouts  and  laughter. 

"  That  I'll  do  at  once!  *'  Then,  turning  to  the  stranger,  he 
cried  out  fiercely:  "  Come  one  step  this  way,  you  rascal,  and  I'll 
flog  you  within  an  inch  of  your  life." 

"  I've  no  occasion." 

"  You're  a  coward." 

"  Not  on  your  word." 

"I'll  prove  it  by  flogging  you  out  of  your  skin." 

"I  doubt  it." 

"  I  am  a  liar,  then,  am  I?" 

"  Just  as  you  please." 

"  Do  you  hear  that,  gentlemen?  " 

"Ay,  we  hear,"  was  the  unanimous  response.  "You  can't 
avoid  dressing  him  now." 

44  O,  heavens !  grant  me  patience  I     I  shall  fly  out  of  my  skin." 

4t  It  will  be  so  much  the  better  for  your  pocket;  calf-skins  are 
in  good  demand.5' 

"  I  shall  burst." 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    C&OCKETT.  265 

Not  here  in  the  street,  I  beg  of  you.     It  would  be  disgust- 


ing. 


"  Gentlemen,  can  I  any  longer  avoid  flogging  him?  " 
"  Not  if  you  are  able,"  was  the  reply.     "  Go  at  him." 
"  Thus  provoked,  thus  stirred  up  and  enraged,  the  fierce  politi- 
cian went  like  lightning  at  his  provoking  antagonist.     But  before 


WASHING  THE    STIFFENING   OUT    OF   A   BOASTER. 

he  could  strike  a  blow  he  found  himself  disarmed  of  his  cow-skin, 
and  lying  on  his  back  under  the  spout  of  a  neighboring  pump, 
whither  the  young  man  had  carried  him  to  cool  his  rage,  and  be- 
fore he  could  recover  from  his  astonishment  at  such  an  unexpected 
handling,  he  was  as  wet  as  a  thrice  drowned  rat,  from  the  cata- 
racts of  water  which  his  laughing  antagonist  had  liberally  pumped 
upon  him.  His  courage,  by  this  time, had  fairly  oozed  out;  and 
he  declared,  as  he  arose  and  went  dripping  away  from  the  pump, 


266  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

that  he  would  never  again  trust  to  quiet  appearances,  and  that 
the  devil  himself  might,  the  next  time,  undertake  to  cow-skin  such 
a  cucumber-blood  scoundrel  for  him.  The  bystanders  laughed 
heartily.  The  politician  now  went  in  pursuit  of  his  horse  and 
his  woman,  taking  his  yellow  boy  with  him;  and  the  landlady 
declared  that  he  richly  deserved  what  he  had  got,  even  if  he  had 
been  guilty  of  no  other  offense  than  the  dirty  imposition  he  had 
practiced  on  her. 

"The  stranger  now  came  to  me,  and  calling  me  by  name, 
asked  for  his  rifle  and  knife,  which  I  returned  to  him.  I  ex- 
pressed some  astonishment  at  being  known  to  him,  and  he  said 
that  he  had  heard  of  my  being  in  the  village,  and  had  sought  me 
out  for  the  purpose  of  accompanying  me  to  Texas.  He  told  me 
that  he  was  a  bee-hunter ;  that  he  had  traveled  pretty  much  over 
that  country  in  the  way  of  his  business,  and  that  I  would  find 
him  of  considerable  use  in  navigating  through  the  ocean  of 
prairies." 

Crockett  was  delighted  to  secure  the  company  of  the  bee- 
hunter,  for  he  rightly  judged  him  to  be  a  man  of  great  courage, 
strong  friendships,  and  one  to  be  relied  on  in  any  emergency. 
He  was  also  glad  to  learn  that  the  gambler  had  known  the  bee- 
hunter  in  other  days,  and  to  see  their  acquaintance  renewed  under 
such  circumstances  as  now  brought  them  into  companionship.  It 
was  arranged  the  next  day  to  take  their  departure  together  for 
Nacogdoches,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  west  of  Natch i- 
toches,  and  as  the  country  through  which  their  route  lay  was 
familiar  to  the  bee-hunter,  he  acted  as  guide,  and  a  reliable  and 
cheery  companion  he  proved  to  be. 


LIFE   OF   DAVY    CKOCKETT.  267 


CHAPTER  X. 

EN   KOUTE   FOR     THE   ALAMO. 

OON  after  day-break  the  three  adventurers  set 
out  upon  their  journey  to  join,  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble, in  the  struggle  then  going  on  between  Texas 
and  Mexico.  Their  route,  though  known  as  the 
old  Spanish  road,  was  often  so  indistinct  that  it 
could  only  be  followed  by  carefully  noting  the 
blazes  on  the  trees,  for  the  trail  was  entirely  ob- 
literated  in  places.  The  bee-hunter  proved  him- 
self an  invaluable  guide,  for  he  never  once  lost 
the  way,  and  besides  inspiring  his  companions  with  confidence 
cheered  their  spirits,  and  enlivened  the  otherwise  tedious  hours, 
by  singing  sweet  songs,  of  which  he  knew  a  large  and  pleasing 
variety.  His  was  the  soul  of  a  poet,  and  the  throat  of  a  night- 
ingale, a  rare  and  gracious  combination  for  a  traveler. 

In  due  season  the  party  arrived  at  Nacogdoches,  where  a  stop 
of  two  days  was  made  to  secure  fresh  horses,  and  to  allow  the 
bee-hunter  proper  time  and  opportunity  for  visiting  with  his 
sweet-heart,  a  beautiful  girl  of  eighteen,  who  was  daughter  of  a 
tavern  keeper  in  the  place.  While  the  poetic  young  hero  was 
singing  love  songs  to  his  sweet-heart,  and  the  gambler  was  pick- 
ing up  an  occasional  dime  from  saloon  loafers  who  had  the  curi- 
osity to  experiment  at  guessing  where  the  pea  could  be  found, 
Crockett  was  moving  among  the  people  haranguing  them  to 
join  the  Lone  Star  Standard  and  under  it  march  to  independ- 
ence. Though  he  gained  no  recruits  he  made  such  a  favorable 
impression  that  the  citizens  serenaded  him,  with  bass-drum  and 
fife,  as  at  Little  Rock. 

Fresh  mustang  horses  having  been  secured,  and  a  supply  of 
provisions  put  up  in  their  saddle-bags,  the  three  were  ready  to 
push  on  again  for  the  fortress  of  Alamo,  which  was  the  Ameri- 
can headquarters,  or  recruiting  rendezvous.  The  parting 


268  STORY   OP   THE    WILD   WEST. 

between  the  bee-hunter  and  Katie,  his  sweet-heart,  was  very  af- 
fecting. They  had  been  lovers  for  several  years  and  affianced 
for  many  months,  his  roving  disposition  alone  having  prevented 
their  marriage  sometime  before,  notwithstanding  her  youth. 
But  great  as  was  his  love  for  the  girl,  it  was  not  strong  enough 
to  curb  his  ambition  for  glory.  He  would  go  away  and  fight  for 
Texas,  win  a  name,  and  perhaps  position,  and  then  return  to 
claim  her  as  a  hero's  bride.  He  kissed  her  with  a  manifestation 
of  great  fervor,  tried  hard  to  keep  back  the  tears,  and,  to  con- 
ceal his  emotion  the  better,  sang  in  that  sweet  voice  which  no 
other  could  rival :  — 

"  Saddled  and  bridled,  and  booted  rode  he, 
A  plume  in  his  helmet,  a  sword  at  his  knee." 

She  had  heard  him  sing  the  song  many  a  time  before,  and  the 
refrain  now  came  back  to  her  in  such  oppressive  and  prophetic 
cadence,  that  she  lifted  her  voice  in  reply:  — 

"  But  home  came  the  saddle,  all  bloody  to  see, 
And  home  came  the  steed,  but  home  never  came  he." 

No  longer  able  to  hide  his  grief  the  bee-hunter  dashed  off, 
followed  by  Crockett  and  the  gamester  and  the  shouts  of  many 
voices  bidding  them  God-speed. 

THROUGH  HAUNTS  OF  THE  WOLF  AND  BEAR. 

For  two  hours  or  more  the  three  rode  on  without  exchanging 
a  word,  the  revery  of  the  bee-hunter  being  too  deep  and  sacred 
to  intrude  upon,  but  at  length  he  broke  the  painful  silence  and 
tried  to  forget  his  grief  by  regaling  his  soul  with  its  own  music. 
Thus  he  began  to  sing,  first  plaintive  and  sweet,  and  then 
changed,  as  his  despondency  gradually  vanished,  to  more  cheer- 
ful ditties,  until  he  had  quite  recovered  himself.  Some  good- 
natured  jokes  were  cracked  and  by  evening  all  were  in  high 
spirits.  On  the  following  day  their  route  lay  through  an  im- 
mense canebrake  which  was  the  haunt  of  almost  countless  wolves 
and  bears,  the  trails  of  which  were  seen  leading  across  the  path 
in  such  number  as  to  make  the  region  appear  like  a  checker- 
board. Of  this  brake  Crockett  writes:  — 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  269 

'•Canebrakes  are  common  in  some  parts  of  Texas.  Our  way 
led  us  through  one  of  considerable  extent.  The  frequent  passage 
of  men  and  horses  had  kept  open  a  narrow  path  not  wide  enough 
for  two  mustangs  to  pass  with  convenience.  The  reeds,  the  same 
as  are  used  in  the  Northern  States  as  fishing  rods,  had  grown  to 
the  height  of  about  twenty  feet,  and  were  so  slender,  that  having 
no  support  directly  over  the  path,  they  drooped  a  little  inward, 
and  intermingled  their  tops,  forming  a  complete  covering  over- 
head. We  rode  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  along  this  singular 
arched  avenue  with  the  view  of  the  sky  completely  shut  out. 
The  bee-hunter  told  me  that  the  largest  brake  is  that  which  lines 
the  banks  of  Caney  Creek,  and  is  seventy  miles  in  length,  with 
scarcely  a  tree  to  be  seen  the  whole  distance.  The  reeds  are 
eaten  by  cattle  and  horses  in  the  winter  when  the  prairies  yield 
little  or  no  other  food." 

MEETING  WITH   A   PIRATE. 

At  night  they  found  shelter  at  the  house  of  a  poor  woman 
whose  store  of  provisions  was  so  scanty  that  she  could  offer  them 
no  other  accommodation  than  a  part  of  her  floor  to  sleep  on. 
This  they  were  glad  enough  to  accept,  and  make  their  supper  off 
what  had  been  brought,  for  emergencies,  in  their  saddle-bags. 
While  hobbling  their  horses  they  saw  approaching  two  men  on 
foot,  with  small  packs,  but  heavy  rifles  and  big  knives.  The  bee- 
hunter  knew  them,  and  after  shaking  their  hands  with  a  certain 
show  of  respect,  introduced  them  to  Crockett  and  the  gambler. 
Crockett  thus  describes  their  appearance :  — 

4 'They,  were  both  armed  with  rifles  and  hunting-knives,  and 
though  I  have  been  accustomed  to  the  sight  of  men  who  have  not 
stepped  far  over  the  line  of  civilization,  I  must  say  these  were 
just  about  the  roughest  samples  I  had  seen  any  where.  One 
was  a  man  of  about  fifty  years  old,  tall  and  raw-boned. 
He  was  dressed  in  a  sailor's  round  jacket,  with  a  tarpaulin 
on  his  head.  His  whiskers  nearly  covered  his  face;  his 
hair  was  coal  black  and  long,  and  there  was  a  deep  scar 
across  his  forehead,  and  another  on  the  back  of  his  right 
hand.  His  companion,  who  was  considerably  younger,  was 
bare-headed,  and  clad  in  a  deer-skin  dress  made  after  our  fash- 
ion. Though  he  was  not  much  darker  than  the  old  man,  I  per- 
ceived that  he  was  an  Indian.  They  spoke  friendly  to  the  bee- 
hunter,  for  they  both  knew  him,  and  said  they  were  on  their  way 


270  STORY   OF  THE   WILD  WEST. 

to  join  the  Texan  forces,  at  that  time  near  the  San  Antonio  River. 
Though  they  had  started  without  horses,  they  reckoned  they 
would  come  across  a  couple  before  they  went  much  farther.  The 
right  of  ownership  to  horse  flesh  is  not  much  regarded  in  Texas, 
for  those  that  have  been  taken  from  the  wild  droves  are  soon 
after  turned  out  to  graze  on  the  prairies,  the  owner  having  first 
branded  them  with  his  mark,  and  hobbled  them  by  tying  their 
fore  feet  together,  which  will  enable  another  to  capture  them  just 
as  readily  as  himself." 

The  two  men  who  had  thus  fallen  into  Crockett's  company 
were  quite  as  bad  as  their  savage  appearances  indicated.  The 
elder  one  had  been  a  pirate  and  fought  under  the  black  flag  of 
Lafitte,  while  the  other  was  an  Indian  who  had  not  hesitated  at 
crimes  quite  as  iniquitous.  But  their  repulsive  looks  and  base 
characters  was  somewhat  atoned  for  by  the  circumstance  that 
in  their  pack  were  several  wild-turkey  eggs  and  two  fat  jack- 
rabbits,  which  they  offered  to  share.  Crockett  and  the  bee-hunt- 
er promptly  accepted  this  generous  proffer  as  an  appetizing 
addition  to  their  own  slender  fare,  but  the  gambler  objected,  and 
sat  off  in  one  corner  with  no  disposition  to  associate,  even  at  the 
board,  with  criminals  of  their  ilk.  Nevertheless,  the  rabbits  and 
eggs  were  quickly  cooked  and  spread  up6n  a  table  for  eatiug,  and 
the  gambler  was  invited  to  "set  up.*'  But  again  he  emphati- 
cally refused,  whereupon,  as  Crockett  says,  the  old  pirate  re- 
ma  rked :  — 

"  '  Stranger,  you  had  better  take  a  seat  at  the  table,  I 
think,'  at  the  same  time  drawing  a  long  hunting-knife  from  his 
belt,  and  laying  It  on  the  table.  *  1  think  you  had  better  take 
some  supper  with  us,'  he  added,  in  a  mild  tone,  but  fixing  his 
eye  sternly  upon  Thimblerig.  The  conjurer  first  eyed  the  knife, 
and  then  the  fierce  whiskers  of  the  pirate,  and,  unlike  some  poli- 
ticians, he  wasn't  long  in  making  up  his  mind  what  course  to 
pursue,  but  he  determined  to  vote  as  the  pirate  voted,  and  said  : 
'  I  second  that  motion,  stranger,'  at  the  same  time  seating  him- 
self on  the  bench  beside  me.  The  eld  man  then  commenced 
cutting  up  the  meat,  for  which  purpose  he  had  drawn  his  hunting 
knife,  though  the  gambler  had  thought  it  was  for  a  different  pur- 
pose; and  being  relieved  from  his  fears  everything  passed  off 
quite  sociable," 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  271 

Notwithstanding  the  fierce  and  criminal  character  of  the  new 
comers,  Crockett  and  his  party  passed  a  comfortable  night,  and 
the  next  day  continued  on  their  journey,  none  the  worse  for  their 
few  hours  association  with  a  pirate.  They  rode  on  until  towards 
noon,  when  they  came  to  a  small  cluster  of  trees  in  the  bound- 
less prairies,  under  which  they  stopped  to  refresh  themselves  aijd 
rest  their  horses.  Having  built  a  fire  and  roasted  some  game 
killed  on  the  way,  they  were  making  a  spread  on  the  grass  pre- 
paratory to  enjoying  an  al  fresco,  or  open  air  feast,  when  sud- 
denly the  bee-hunter  made  a  rush  for  his  horse,  and  without 
saying  a  word  rode  away  at  a  mad  pace  towards  the  west  until 
he  had  disappeared  in  the  far  distance  from  the  astonished  gaze 
of  Crockett  and  the  gambler.  For  a  considerable  time  they 
were  utterly  at  a  loss  to  know  what  could  have  caused  their 
companion  to  thus  desert  them,  for  they  could  hardly  bring 
themselves  to  believe  that  he  had  lost  his  mind.  At  length  the 
idea  came  into  Crockett's  head  that  there  was  some  good  reason 
for  the  bee-keeper's  strange  action  which  would  be  explained  in 
due  time,  and  he  therefore  resolved  to  patiently  wait  results. 

A   HURRICANE    OF   BUFFALOES. 

Again  Crockett  and  the  gamester  renewed  preparations  for 
their  noon  repast,  but  before  they  had  begun  to  eat,  a  strange 
sound  fell  on  their  ears,  unlike  anything  they  had  ever  before 
heard,  and  withal,  so  ominous  as  to  immediately  drive  away 
their  appetites.  It  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  summer 
days.  There  was  not  a  cloud  to  be  seen.  The  undulating  prairie, 
waving  with  flowers,  lay  spread  out  before  them,  more  beautiful 
under  nature's  bountiful  adornings  than  the  most  artistic  par- 
terre, park  or  lawn  which  the  hand  of  man  ever  reared.  A 
gentle,  cool  breeze  swept  through  the  grove,  fragrant  and  re- 
freshing as  if  from  Araby  the  blest.  It  was  just  one  of  those 
scenes  and  one  of  those  hours  in  which  all  vestiges  of  the  Fall 
seemed  to  have  been  obliterated,  and  Eden  itself  again  appeared 
blooming  in  its  pristine  beauty. 

Still  those  sounds,  growing  more  and  more  distinct ,  were  not 
sounds  of  peace,  were  not  seolian  war b lings;  they  were 


272  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

ings  as  of  a  rising  tempest,  and  inspired  awe  and  a  sense  of  peril. 
Straining  their  eyes  towards  the  far  distant  west,  whence  the 
sounds  came,  they  soon  saw  an  immense  black  cloud  just  emerg- 
ing from  the  horizon  and  apparently  very  low  down,  sweeping 
the  very  surface  of  the  prairie.  This  strange,  menacing  cloud 
was  approaching  with  manifestly  great  rapidity.  It  was  coming 
directly  toward  the  grove  where  the  travelers  were  sheltered.  A 
cloud  of  dust  accompanied  the  phenomenon,  ever  growing 
thicker  and  rising  higher  in  the  air. 

"What  can  all  that  mean?"  exclaimed  Crockett,  in  evident 
alarm. 

The  juggler  sprang  to  his  feet,  saying,  "  Burn  my  old  shoes, 
if  I  know." 

Even  the  mustangs,  which  were  grazing  near  by,  were  fright- 
ened. They  stopped  eating,  pricked  up  their  ears,  and  gazed  in 
terror  upon  the  approaching  danger.  It  was  then  supposed  that 
the  black  cloud,  with  its  muttered  thunderings,  must  be  one  of 
those  terrible  tornadoes  which  occasionally  swept  the  region,  bear- 
ing down  everything  before  it.  The  men  all  rushed  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  mustangs.  In  the  greatest  haste  they  struck  off 
their  hobbles  and  led  them  into  the  grove  for  shelter. 

The  noise  grew  louder  and  louder,  and  they  had  scarcely 
brought  the  horses  beneath  the  protection  of  the  trees,  when 
they  perceived  that  it  was  an  immense  herd  of  buffaloes,  of 
countless  hundreds,  dashing  along  with  the  speed  of  the  wind,  and 
bellowing  and  roaring  in  tones  as  appalling  as  if  a  band  of  demons 
were  flying  and  shrieking  in  terror  before  some  avenging  arm. 

The  herd  seemed  to  fill  the  horizon.  Their  numbers  could  not 
be  counted.  They,  were  all  driven  by  some  common  impulse  of 
terror.  In  their  headlong  plunge  those  in  front  pressed  on  by 
the  innumerable  throng  behind,  it  was  manifest  that  no  ordinary 
obstacle  would  in  the  slightest  degree  retard  their  rush.  The 
spectacle  was  sublime  and  terrible.  Had  the  travelers  been 
upon  the  open  plain,  it  seemed  inevitable  that  they  must  have 
been  trampled  down  and  crushed  out  of  every  semblance  of  hu- 
manity by  these  thousands  of  hard  hoofs. 


IS 


(273) 


274  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

But  it  so  chanced  that  they  were  upon  what  is  called  a  rolling 
prairie,  with  its  graceful  undulations  and  gentle  eminences.  It 
was  one  of  these  beautiful  swells  which  the  grove  crowned  with 
its  luxuriance. 

As  the  enormous  herd  came  along  with  its  rush  and  roar,  like 
the  bursting  forth  of  a  pent-up  flood,  the  terrified  mustangs  were 
too  much  frightened  to  attempt  to  escape.  They  shivered  in 
every  nerve  as  if  stricken  by  an  ague. 

An  immense  black  bull  led  the  band.  He  was  a  few  feet  in 
advance  of  all  the  rest.  He  came  roaring  along,  his  tail  erect  in 
the  air  as  a  javelin,  his  head  near  the  ground,  and  his  stout,  bony 
horns  projected  as  if  he  were  just  ready  to  plunge  upon  his  foe. 
Crockett  writes :  — 

"  I  never  felt  such  a  desire  to  have  a  crack  at  anything  in  all 
my  life.  He  drew  nigh  the  place  where  I  was  standing.  I  raised 
my  beautiful  Betsey  to  my  shoulder  and  blamed  away.  He 
roared  and  suddenly  stopped.  Those  that  were  near  him  did  so 
likewise.  The  commotion  occasioned  by  the  impetus  of  those  in 
the  rear  was  such  that  it  was  a  miracle  that  some  of  them  did  not 
break  their  heads  or  necks.  The  black  bull  stood  for  a  few 
moments  pawing  the  ground  after  lie  was  shot,  then  darted  off 
around  the  cluster  of  trees,  and  made  for  the  uplands  of  the 
prairies.  The  whole  herd  followed,  sweeping  by  like  a  tornado. 
And  I  do  say  I  never  witnessed  a  sight  more  beautiful  to  the  eye 
of  a  hunter  in  all  my  life." 

The  temptation  to  pursue  them  was  too  strong  for  Crockett  to 
resist.  For  a  moment  he  was  himself  bewildered,  and  stood 
gazing  with  astonishment  upon  the  wondrous  spectacle.  Speed- 
ily he  reloaded  his  rifle,  sprang  upon  his  horse,  and  set  out  in 
pursuit  over  the  expanse  of  prairie  as  destitute  of  landmarks  as 
the  ocean.  For  two  hours  he  followed  the  herd,  heedless  of  the 
direction  he  was  taken  or  giving  a  thought  to  anything  save  the 
sport  ahead.  His  mustang,  scarcely  larger  than  a  donkey,  kept 
up  bravely  under  the  weight  of  its  rider  for  a  distance  of  twelve 
or  more  miles,  when  it  showed  signs  of  fatigue.  Crockett  would, 
no  doubt,  have  passed  on  regardless  of  the  spent  condition  of  his 
little  steed,  had  he  not  now  discovered  the  futility  of  further 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT. 


275 


pursuit,  as  the  herd  had  gained  on  him  steadily  and  was  now  De- 
yond  rifle-shot. 

LOST   ON   THE   PRAIRIE. 

Reining  up  his  mustang,  after  the  game  had  escaped,  Crockett 
looked  about  him  for  some  sign  that  wouid  enable  Mm  to  retrace 
his  way,  but  the  hoofs  of  mustang  and  buffaloes  had  blended, 
nor  was  it  possible  to  distinguish  them  in  the  hoof-niarks  that 


CROCKETT   LOST   ON   THE    PRAIRIE. 

everywhere  indented  the  loose  soil,  for  he  was  in  the  great 
buffalo  range,  where  thousands  upon  thousands  roamed.  Taking 
his  direction  by  guess  he  rode  on  for  an  hour  until  he  became  so 
bewildered  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  proceed  with  confi- 
dence, and  he  began  to  feel  the  awful  oppression  that  follows  a 
reflection  upon  the  thought  of  being  lost  on  the  boundless  prai- 
ries, with  no  means  of  protection  against  the  myriads  of  half- 
famished  wolves  that  wander  over  the  wilderness  ready  to  break 


276  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

their  fast  upon  a  distracted  traveler  like  himself.  Being  lost 
was  quite  enough  to  worry  his  mind  beyond  measure,  but  to  this 
trouble  was  added  a  great  anxiety  for  the  gambler  who  had  been 
left  alone,  and  for  the  bee-hunter,  who  had  apparently  gone  in 
pursuit  of  a  phantom . 

After  pausing  a  considerable  time  to  reflect  upon  his  situation, 
he  started  in  search  of  a  stream  of  water,  reasoning  very  prop- 
erly that  if  he  could  find  a  water-course,  it  would  not  only  serve 
to  refresh  him,  but  by  following  it  there  was  a  likelihood  of 
coming  upon  some  settler's  cabin,  besides,  he  might  be  able  to 
take  refuge  in  the  water  if  pursued  by  wolves.  But  he  had  not 
proceeded  far,  when  he  saw  in  the  distance  a  large  herd  of  ani- 
mals bearing  swiftly  down  towards  him,  which  at  first  he 
believed  to  be  buffaloes.  As  they  came  nearer,  however,  he  dis- 
covered that  it  was  a  drove  of  \yild  horses.  In  a  few  minutes 
they  had  overtaken  him  and  by  their  rapid  pace  and  incessant 
whinnying  so  excited  his  own  mustang  that  Crockett  was  unable 
to  control  him,  and  off  he  dashed  with  the  herd.  It  was  now  a 
mad  race,  in  which,  despite  the  handicap  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds,  the  little  mustang  held  his  own  among  the  wild, 
free  rovers  for  nearly  half  an  hour,  and  did  not  drop  behind 
until  the  Navasola  river  was  reached,  where  he  fell  completely 
exhausted. 

A   FIGHT   WITH   A   MEXICAN   LION. 

The  drove  plunged  into  the  stream  and  bravely  stemming  its 
rushing  waters,  which  were  much  swollen  by  recent  rains,  all 
reached  the  other  side  in  safety.  Crockett  unsaddled  his  horse 
and  tried  in  vain  for  a  long  while  to  revive  him.  Night  was  fast 
coming  on,  and  he  must  now  needs  look  about  for  some  place  in 
which  to  take  refuge.  On  the  river  bank  he  perceived,  a  few 
rods  away,  a  large  tree  that  had  been  recently  blown  down, 
in  the  still  thick  and  green  branches  of  which  he  decided  to  con- 
ceal himself  and  pass  the  night.  But  as  he  approached  and 
began  scrambling  upon  the  trunk,  a  fierce  growl  arrested  his 
attention,  and  gave  him  plainly  to  understand  that  the  place  was 


LIFE   OF  DAVY   CROCKETT.  277 

already  pre-empted.     Crockett  thus  describes  the  terrible  battle 
that  followed:  — 

"  Looking  about  to  see  what  sort  of  a  bed-fellow  I  was  likely 
to  have,  I  discovered,  not  more  than  five  or  six  paces  from  me, 
an  enormous  Mexican  cougar,  eyeing  me  as  an  epicure  survevs 
the  table  before  he  selects  his  dish,  for  I  have  no  doubt  the  co*u- 
gar  looked  upon  me  as  the  subject  of  a  future  supper.  Rays  of 
light  darted  from  his  large  eyes,  he  showed  his  teeth  like  a  negro 
in  hysterics,  and  he  was  crouching  on  his  haunches  ready  for  a 
spring  ;  all  of  which  convinced  me  that  unless  I  was  pretty  quick 
upon  the  trigger,  posterity  would  know  little  of  the  termination 
of  my  eventful  career,  and  it  would  be  far  less  glorious  and  use- 
ful th m  I  intend  to  make  it. 

"One  glance  satisfied  me  that  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  as  Pat 
thought  when  falling  from  a  church  steeple,  and  exclaimed,  *  This 
would  be  mighty  pleasant,  now,  if  it  would  only  last,'  — but  there 
was  no  retreat  either  for  me  or  the  cougar,  so  I  leveled  my  Betsey 
and  blazed  away.  The  report  was  followed  by  a  furious  growl 
(which  is  sometimes  the  case  in  Congress),  and  the  next  moment, 
when  I  expected  to  find  the  tarnal  critter  struggling  with  death, 
I  beheld  him  shaking  his  head  as  if  nothing  more  than  a  bee  had 
.stung  him.  The  ball  had  struck  him  on  the  forehead  and  glanced 
off,  doing  no  other  injury  than  stunning  him  for  an  instant,  and 
tearing  off  the  skin,  which  tended  to  infuriate  him  the  more. 
The  cougar  wasn't  long  in  making  up  his  mind  what  to  do,  nor 
was  I  neither  ;  but  he  would  have  it  all  his  own  way,  and  vetoed 
my  motion  to  back  out.  I  had  not  retreated  three'  steps  before 
he  sprang  at  me  like  a  steamboat ;  I  stepped  aside,  and  as  he  lit 
upon  the  ground,  I  struck  him  violently  with  the  barrel  of  my  rifle, 
but  he  didn't  mind  that,  but  wheeled  around  and  made  at  me 
again.  The  gun  was  now  of  no  use,  so  I  threw  it  away,  and 
drew  my  hunting  knife,  for  I  knew  we  should  come  to  close 
quarters  before  the  fight  would  be  over.  This  time  he  succeeded 
in  fastening  on  my  left  arm,  and  was  just  beginning  to  amuse 
himself  by  tearing  the  flesh  off  with  his  fangs,  when  I  ripped  my 
knife  into  his  side,  and  he  let  go  his  hold  much  to  my  satisfac- 
tion. 

"  He  wheeled  about  and  came  at  me  with  increased  fury,  occa- 
sioned by  the  smarting  of  his  wounds.  I  now  tried  to  blind  him, 
knowing  that  if  I  succeeded  he  would  become  an  easy  prey ;  so 
as  he  approached  me  I  watched  my  opportunity,  and  aimed  a 
blow  at  his  eyes  with  my  knife,  but  unfortunately  it  struck  him 


278 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


on  the  nose,  and  he  paid  no  other  attention  to  it  than  by  a  shase 
of  the  head  and  a  low  growl.  He  pressed  me  close,  and  as  I 
was  stepping  backward  my  foot  tripped  in  a  vine,  and  I  fell  to 
the  ground.  He  was  down  upon  me  like  a  night-hawk  upon  a 
June  bug.  He  seized  hold  of  the  outer  part  of  my  right  thigh, 
which  afforded  him  considerable  amusement ;  the  hinder  part  of 
his  body  was  towards  my  face  ;  I  grasped  his  tail  with  my  left 
hand,  and  tickled  his  ribs  with  my  hunting  knife,  which  I  held  in 
my  right.  Still  the  critter  wouldn't  let  go  his  hold;  and  as  I 

,!' 


CROCKETT'S  FIGHT  WITH  THE  MEXICAN  LION. 

found  that  he  would  lacerate  my  leg  dreadfully,  unless  he  was 
speedily  shaken  off,  I  tried  to  hurl  him  down  the  bank  into  the 
river,  for  our  scuffle  had  already  brought  us  to  the  edge  of  the 
bank.  I  stuck  my  knife  into  his  side,  and  summoned  all  my 
strength  to  throw  him  over.  He  resisted,  was  desperate  heavy; 
but  at  last  I  got  him  so  far  down  the  declivity  that  he  lost  his 
balance,  and  he  roiled  over  and  over  till  he  landed  on  the  margin 
of  the  river  ;  but  in  his  fall  he  dragged  me  along  with  him.  For- 
tunately, I  fell  uppermost,  and  his  neck  presented  a  fair  mark  for 


LIFE    OF    DAVY    CROCKETT.  279 

my  hunting  knife.  Without  allowing  myself  time  even  to  draw 
breath,  I  aimed  one  desperate  blow  at  his  neck,  and  the  knife 
entered  his  gullet  up  to  the  handle,  and  reached  his  heart.  He 
struggled  for  a  few  moments,  and  died.  I  have  had  many  lights 
with  bears,  but  that  was  mere  child's  play  ;  this  was  the  first 
fight  I  ever  had  with  a  cougar,  and  I  hope  it  may  be  the  last. 

"I  now  returned  to  the  tree-top  to  see  if  any  one  else  would 
dispute  my  lodging;  but  now  I  could  take  peaceable  and  quiet 
possession.  I  parted  some  of  the  branches,  and  cut  away  others 
to  make  a  bed  in  the  opening ;  I  then  gathered  a  quantity  of 
moss,  which  hung  in  festoons  from  the  trees,  which  I  spread  on 
the  litter,  and  over  this  I  spread  my  horse  blanket;  and  I  had  ;is 
comfortable  a  bed  as  a  weary  man  need  ask  for.  I  now  took  an- 
other look  at  my  mustang,  and  from  all  appearances  he  would 
not  live  until  morning.  I  ate  some  of  the  cakes  that  little  Kate 
of  Nacogdoches  had  made  for  me,  and  then  carried  my  saddle 
into  my  tree-top,  and  threw  myself  down  upon  my  bed  with  no 
very  pleasant  reflections  at  the  prospect  before  me. 

"  I  was  weary,  and  soon  fell  asleep,  and  did  not  awake  until 
daybreak  the  next  day.  I  felt  somewhat  stiff  and  sore  from  the 
wounds  J  had  received  in  the  conflict  with  the  cougar;  but  I  con- 
sidered myself  as  having  made  a  lucky  escape.  I  looked  over  the 
bank,  and  as  I  saw  the  carcass  of  the  cougar  lying  there,  I 
thought  that  it  was  an  even  chance  that  we  had  not  exchanged 
conditions;  and  I  felt  grateful  that  the  fight  had  ended  as  it 
did." 

AN    ADVENTURE  WITH    COMANCHE  INDIANS. 

Upon  arising  from  his  bed  in  the  tree  Crockett  went  at  once  to 
look  for  his  horse,  but  to  his  surprise  the  animal  was  gone,  leav- 
ing behind  no  evidence  of  regret  at  thus  basely  deserting  his 
master.  To  one  great  trouble  another  much  greater  had  thus 
been  added,  but  Crockett  had  not  forgotten  the  philosophy  that 
had  served  him  in  former  trials  and  he  resolved  to  make  the  best 
of  his  really  desperate  situation.  Having  had  neither  dinner  nor 
supper  the  preceding  day,  hunger  was  destroying  his  strength 
and  must  be  appeased.  Taking  his  rifle  he  went  up  the  stream  a 
short  distance  when  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  discover  a  flock  of 
geese  sitting  on  the  shore,  one  of  which  he  shot  and  soon  had  it 
roasting  over  a  comfortable  fire.  Upon  this  he  satisfied  his  well- 
whetted  appetite,  and  was  upon  the  point  of  taking  up  his  jour- 


280  STORY   OF   THE  WILD  WESt. 

ney  on  foot  down  the  river,  when  a  third  surprise  was  given  him. 
This  time  it  was  neither  buff  aloes  nor  wild  horses,  but  a  war  party 
of  one  hundred  Comanche  Indians  that  had  been  attracted  to 
Crockett's  camp  by  seeing  the  smoke  arising  from  his  fire.  Re- 
sistance or  attempt  at  escape  being  useless,  he  submitted  himself 
to  whatever  fate  they  chose  to  visit  upon  him.  Several  of  the 
Indians  could  speak  English  and  to  these  Crockett  addressed 
himself,  relating  all  that  had  befallen  him  since  he  left  his  com- 
rade to  go  in  pursuit  of  the  buffaloes.  He  also  showed  them  the 
dead  cougar,  and  described  the  manner  in  which  he  had  killed  it. 
The  Indians  were  so  well  pleased  with  him  that  instead  of  offer- 
ing any  indignity,  expressed  a  desire  to  adopt  him  into  their 
tribe,  an  honor  which  he  respectfully  declined  and  with  excuses 
for  his  refusal  so  satisfactory  that  the  chief  gave  him  a  horse, 
and  offered  to  conduct  him  to  the  Colorado  River. 

This  was  a  kindness  that  came  as  a  veritable  God-send  to 
Crockett,  and  he  was  quick  to  embrace  it.  He  put  his  saddle 
and  bridle  on  the  horse  that  had  been  given  him,  and  set  off  witk 
his  Indian  friends  towards  the  Texas  rendezvous  at  Bexar.  After 
riding  a  few  miles  they  saw  a  herd  of  wild  horses  grazing,  and 
one  of  the  Indians  who  had  a  lasso  started  in  pursuit  of  them. 
The  drove  did  not  take  alarm  immediately,  but  permitted  him  to 
get  within  less  than  a  hundred  yards,  when  all  but  one  of  them 
dashed  away  and  soon  disappeared.  The  solitary  animal  that 
had  refused  to  flee  was  directly  lassoed,  and  being  brought  back 
to  the  party  Crockett  at  once  recognized  it  as  his  mustang  that 
had,  by  apparent  shamming,  escaped  the  night  before.  Crockett 
expressed  his  astonishment  that  the  horse  allowed  himself  to  be 
so  easily  taken,  whereupon  the  chief  explained  that  when  wild 
mustangs  are  first  captured  with  the  lasso  they  are  hurled  so  vio- 
lently to  the  ground  that  they  never  forget  the  hard  experience, 
and  the  very  sight  of  a  lasso  frequently  subdues  them  even  after 
they  have  escaped  and  run  wild  for  years. 

Towards  evening  the  party  discovered  a  herd  of  buffaloes, 
which  the  Indians  gave  chase  to,  and  offered  Crockett  one  of  the 
most  interesting  sights  of  his  life,  for  they  gave  h'm  an  example 


LIFE"  OF   DAVY   CROCKETT. 


281 


of  tne  manner  in  which  they  hunt  this  animal  from  horseback, 
with  lance  and  bow  and  arrow,  and  showed  an  expertness  in  the 
handling  of  their  horses  really  wonderful  to  see. 

FINDING    THE    GAMBLER. 

After  the  hunt  the  party  moved  forward  till  they  reached  a  cross- 
ing of  the  Col- 
orado,  when 
their  attention 
was   attracted 
to  a  column  of 
srnoke    rising 
from  a  clump 
of  trees,  which 
the  Indians  at 
once     investi- 
gated. Crock- 
ett   and    the  w 
chief    crept  w 
towards    th  e  § 
fire  until  they  g 
came  in  view  o 
of  a   c  a  m  p ,  > 
when    to    the 
former's 
•astonishment 
he  saw  sitting 
on  a  log  a  soli- 
ca  r  y      man 
amusing  him- 
self   at    the 
game  of  thim- 
blerig  while 
his  coffee  was 

simmering  and  the  fire  burning  low.  Crockett  recognized  in  this 
lone  gamester  his  comrade,  the  gambler,  but  to  test  his  nerve  he 
withdrew  while  the  Indians  rushed  forward  with  tomahawks  up- 


J 


282  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

lifted,  and  yelling  only  as  Comanches  can.  The  poor  gambler 
was  taken  by  complete  surprise,  and  so  frightened  that  he  forgot 
his  ruling  passion  and  fell  into  that  which  he  had  never  practiced 
before  —  praying.  The  test  was  complete,  and  to  save  him  from 
an  attack  of  hysterics  Crockett  now  stepped  forward  and  tak- 
ing the  gambler's  hand  quieted  his  fears  and  explained  the  situa- 
tion, as  also  the  reason  of  his  long  absence. 

It  now  became  the  gambler's  turn  to  relate  his  experience, 
which  Crockett  was  equally  anxious  to  hear,  and  he  immediately 
proceeded  with  his  story  which  was  to  the  effect  that  after  wait- 
ing a  long  while  the  return  of  his  comrades  the  gambler  was  upon 
the  point  of  retracing  his  steps  for  the  States,  and  was  already  on 
his  mustang  for  that  purpose,  when  the  bee-hunter  most  unex- 
pectedly appeared  before  him  well  laden  with  a  supply  of  golden 
honey,  and  explained  his  abrupt  departure  by  saying  that  it  was 
a  bee  he  had  followed  to  its  goodly  store. 

61  But  where  is  the  bee-hunter  now?  "  eagerly  asked  Crockett. 

"  Oh,"  replied  the  gambler,  "  he  is  out  hunting  and  will  return 
presently  with  some  game,  for  I  heard  the  report  of  his  gun 
about  fifteen  minutes  ago  not  more  than  a  mile  down  the 
river.'* 

The  Indians,  being  anxious  to  renew  their  journey,  now  bade 
Crockett  adieu,  but  not  until  he  had  presented  the  chief  with  a 
large  bowie-knife,  which  effectually  cemented  their  friendship, 
as  an  Indian,  especially  in  those  days,  prized  nothing  so  highly 
as  a  large  knife. 

Soon  after  the  Indians  had  taken  their  departure,  the  bee- 
hunter  came  to  the  camp  with  a  big  turkey  slung  over  his  shoulder, 
and  was  met  by  Crockett  with  open  arms  and  hugs  that  showed 
his  transport  at  the  reunion. 

While  supper  was  being  prepared,  the  neighing  of  a  horse 
broke  upon  their  ears  and,  as  enemies  were  thicker  than  friends 
in  that  lawless  region,  the  three  seized  their  rifles  and  made 
ready  for  any  adventure.  Their  fears  were  presently  relieved, 
however,  by  the  sight  of  two  horsemen,  one  of  whom  Crockett 
quickly  perceived  was  the  old  pirate  and  the  other  his  Indian 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  283 

companion.     They  were  cordially  received  and  invited  to  partake 
of  the  supper  that  was  now  ready. 

A   FIGHT   WITH   MEXICANS. 

When  supper  was  finished,  the  bee-hunter  entertained  the 
party  with  several  stirring  war  songs  that  fired  them  all  with 
patriotic  enthusiasm.  In  the  conversation  that  followed  the  old 
pirate  stated  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  fortress  of  Alamo  to 
join  the  Texas  rangers,  and  would  be  glad  to  finish  the  remainder 
of  the  journey  in  such  good  company  as  that  of  his  three  new 
friends.  Crockett  was  delighted  with  the  proposition,  for  in 
such  a  country  as  Texas  was  at  this  time,  infested  with  robbers, 
cut-throats,  and  every  species  of  lawless  characters,  an  increase 
of  company  was  very  acceptable,  while  the  pirate's  desire  to  join 
the  Texas  patriots  inspired  Crockett  at  once  with  a  confidence  in 
the  outlaw  that  he  had  not  felt  before. 

Early  the  following  morning  the  five  started  for  Bexar,  with 
their  spirits  greatly  stimulated  by  the  songs  of  the  bee-hunter. 
Nothing  occurred  to  prevent  their  rapid  progress  until  they  were 
within  twenty  miles  of  Bexar  (which  is  now  called  San  Antonio), 
when  an  incident  occurred  which  Crockett  thus  describes:  — 

"We  were  in  the  open  prairie,  and  beheld  a  band  of  about 
fifteen  or  twenty  armed  men  approaching  us  at  full  speed. 
4  Look  out  for  squalls,'  said  the  old  pirate,  who  had  not  spoken 
for  an  hour;  *  they  are  a  scouting  party  of  Mexicans.'  '  And 
are  three  or  four  times  our  number,'  said  Thimblerig.  '  No 
matter,'  replied  the  old  man;  '  they  are  convicts,  jail  birds,  and 
cowardly  ruffians,  no  doubt,  who  would  tremble  at  a  loud  word 
as  much  as  a  mustang  at  the  sight  of  a  lasso.  Let  us  spread  our- 
selves, dismount,  and  trust  to  our  arms.' 

*'  We  followed  his  orders,  and  stood  beside  our  horses,  which 
served  to  protect  our  persons,  and  awaited  the  approach,  of 
the  enemy.  When  they  perceived  this  movement  of  ours,  they 
checked  their  speed,  appeared  to  consult  together  for  a  few  min- 
utes, then  spread  their  line,  and  came  within  rifle  shot  of  us. 
The  leader  called  out  to  us  in  Spanish,  but  as  I  did  not  understand 
him,  I  asked  the  old  man  what  it  was,  who  said  he  called  upon 
us  to  surrender. 

"  «  There  will  be  a  brush  with  those  blackguards,'  continued 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  285 

the  pirate.  *  Now  each  of  you  single  out  your  man  for  the  first 
fire,  and  they  are  greater  fools  than  I  take  them  for  if  they  give 
us  a  chance  at  a  second.  Colonel,  as  you  are  a  good  shot,  just 
settle  the  business  for  that  talking  fellow  with  the  red  feather ; 
he's  worth  any  three  of  the  party/ 

"  '  Surrender,  or  we  fire,'  shouted  the  fellow  with  the  red 
feather,  in  Spanish. 

"  '  Fire,  and  be  d d,'  returned  the  pirate,  at  the  top  of  his 

voice,  in  plain  English. 

"  And  sure  enough  they  took  his  advice,  for  the  next  minute 
we  were  saluted  with  a  discharge  of  musketry,  the  report  of 
which  was  so  loud  that  we  were  convinced  they  all  had  fired. 
Before  the  smoke  had  cleared  away  we  had  each  selected  our 
man,  fired,  and  I  never  did  see  such  a  scattering  among  their 
ranks  as  followed.  We  beheld  several  mustangs  running  wild 
without  their  riders  over  the  prairie,  and  the  balance  of  the 
company  were  already  retreating  at  a  more  rapid  gait  than  they 
approached.  We  hastily  mounted,  and  commenced  pursuit, 
which  we  kept  up  until  we  beheld  the  independent  flag  flying 
from  the  battlements  of  the  fortress  of  Alamo,  our  place  of  des- 
tination. The  fugitives  succeeded  in  evading  our  pursuit,  and 
we  rode  up  to  the  gates  of  the  fortress,  announced  to  the  sentinel 
who  we  were,  and  the  izates  were  thrown  open,  through  which  we 
enteredainid  shouts  of  welcome  bestowed  upon  us  by  the  patriots." 


286 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


CHAPTER    XL 


AT   THE   ALAMO. 

-r  OLLOWINGr  the  arrival  of  Crockett  at  Bexar, 
a  bacchanalian  orgie  was  instituted  by  way 
of  celebrating  his  enlistment  in  the  Texas 
war  for  independence.  While  this  drunken 
carousal  reflects  no  credit  upon  the  partici- 
pants, it  was  characteristic  of  life  in  the  far 
southwest,  and  is  not,  therefore,  deserving 
of  such  severe  condemnation  as  if  tho  same 
scenes  had  been  enacted  in  a  more  civilized 
community.  Crockett  thus  humorously  de- 
scribes the  convivial  exhibition  in  which  he 
acted  a  part:  — 

"We  had  a  little  sort  of  convivial  party 
last  evening  ;  just  about  a  dozen  of  us  set  to 
work,  most  patriotically,  to  see  whether  we 
of  that  curse  of  the  land,  whisky,  and  we 
progress;  but  my  poor  friend,  Thimblerig, 
got  sewed  up  just  about  as  tight  as  the  eyelet-hole  in  a  lady's 
corset,  and  a  little  tighter,  too,  I  reckon;  for  when  he  went  to 
bed  he  called  for  a  bootjack,  which  was  brought  to  him,  and  he 
bent  down  on  his  hands  and  knees,  and  very  gravely  pulled  off 
his  hat  with  it,  for  the. darned  critter  was  so  thoroughly  swiped 
that  he  didn't  know  his  head  from  his  heels.  But  this  wasn't  ali 
the  folly  he  committed ;  he  pulled  off  his  coat  and  laid  it  on  the 
bed,  and  then  hung,  himself  over  the  back  of  a  chair  ;  and  I  wish 
I  may  be  shot  if  he  didn't  go  to  sleep  in  that  position,  thinking 
everything  had  been  done  according  to  Gunter's  late  scale.  See- 
ing the  poor  fellow  completely  used  up,  I  carried  him  to  bed, 
though  he  did  belong  to  the  temperance  society ;  and  he  knew 
nothing  about  what  had  occurred  until  I  told  him  the  next  morn- 
ing. The  bee-hunter  didn't  join  us  in  this  blow  out.  Indeed, 
he  will  seldom  drink  more  than  just  enough  to  prevent  his  being 
called  a  total  abstinence  man.  But  then  he  is  the  most  jovial 
fellow  for  a,  water  drinker  I  ever  did  see," 


could  not  get  rid 
made  considerable 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  287 

Less  than  two  months  before  Crockett  reached  the  place,  or 
on  December  10th,  1835,  Bexar,  which  is  now  universally  known 
as  San  Antonio,  was  captured  from  the  Mexicans  by  the  Texas 
patriots,  the  former  being  under  the  command  of  General  Cos,  a 
brother-in-law  of  Santa  Anna,  and  the  latter  under  General  Bur- 
lison.  The  town,  which  then  contained  about  twelve  hundred 
inhabitants,  was  garrisoned  by  seventeen  hundred  Mexicans, 
while  the  attacking  force  numbered  only  two  hundred  and  six- 
teen. Notwithstanding  the  overwhelming  odds  against  them, 
and  the  disadvantage  of  having  to  make  the  assault,  the  Texans 
bravely  rushed  to  the  attack,  and  though  beaten  back  it  was  only 
to  gain  fresh  impetus.  For  five  days  and  nights  the  siege  was 
kept  up,  with  the  Texans  always  gaining  ground,  until  at  length 
the  Mexicans  were  driven  to  take  refuge  in  the  public  square,  or 
plaza,  which  they  had  walled  up  and  prepared  for  a  desperate  re- 
sistance. But  these  defenses  were  soon  battered  down  and  the 
Texans  swept  over  them  as  the  Mexicans  retreated  to  what  had 
been  a  monastery,  but  which,  being  now  converted  into  a 
fortress,  was  called  the  Castle  of  Alamo,  which  stood  opposite 
the  plaza.  Though  this  building  was  secure  against  assault, 
General  Cos  found  himself  in  danger  of  being  starved  out,  and 
as  his  provisions  were  already  expended,  he  raised  a  white  flag 
and  sent  out  his  terms  for  capitulation.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say  that  the  first  draft  was  favorable  to  himself,  but  as  there 
was  not  another  round  of  ammunition  left  among  the  Texans, 
the  terms  were  accepted.  By  them  General  Cos  was  given  per- 
mission to  retire  within  six  days  with  his  officers,  on  parole  of 
honor,  and  to  retain  their  side  arms  and  private  property.  The 
public  property,  money,  ammunition  and  arms  of  the  fighting 
rank,  however,  were  to  be  delivered  over  to  General  Burlison, 
of  the  Texan  army,  all  of  which  stipulations  were  accepted  and 
faithfully  carried  out. 

THE  BRAVE  DEFENDERS  OF  THE  ALAMO. 

In  this  memorable  siege  the  Mexicans  are  said  to  hare  Jos>t  tbre^ 
hundred  men,  while  the  Texans  suffered  a  loss  of  only  four  mois 
killed  and  twenty  wounded.  This  remarkable  victory,  won 


288  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

so  few  casualties  to  their  own  forces  while  administering  such 
severe  punishment  to  their  enemies,  inspired  the  Texans  with  such 
courage  that  they  believed  themselves  almost  invincible. 

At  the  time  Crockett  joined  the  patriots  the  Alamo  was  gar- 
risoned by  less  than  two  hundred  men,  under  command  of  Colonel 
Travis,  one  of  the  bravest  men  that  ever  lifted  a  sword  in  defense 
of  American  liberty.  He  was  ably  supported  by  Colonel  Bon- 
ham,  and  that  most  celebrated  duelist  and  desperate  fighter, 
Colonel  Bowie .  The  two  latter  gentlemen  were  called  * '  Colonel ' ' 
out  of  courtesy,  though  had  they  survived  the  war  their  promo- 
tion would  have  been  to  positions  higher  than  that  by  which  they 
are  designated  in  Texas  annals.  But  these  officers  of  such  dash 
and  daring  were  made  of  no  better  material  than  were  their  men, 
for  every  soldier  within  the  ranks  of  the  band  that  held  the 
Alamo  under  the  Texan  star  was  a  hero,  with  the  courage  of  a 
Spartan  and  a  fidelity  to  the  trusts  reposed  in  them  like  true 
knights  in  the  wars  of  old. 

The  defeat  sustained  by  General  Cos  enraged  Santa  Anna  be- 
yond measure  and  he  immediately  resolved  to  march  against  Bexar 
and  to  head  the  attack  himself,  for  it  was  his  boast  that  he  would 
wreak  a  desperate  vengeance  upon  the  Texans  and  then  sow  their 
land  with  salt  that  it  might  never  produce  a  green  thing  again. 
This  resolve,  nor  his  threats  could  intimidate  the  garrison,  now 
so  well  schooled  in  fighting  and  with  the  laurels  of  victory  yet  fresh 
upon  their  brows. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  ALAMO. 

As  the  Alamo  has  since  become  one  of  the  famous  landmarks 
of  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  and  still  stands  the  monument  of  a 
bloody  conflict  not  surpassed  by  that  even  of  ancient  Thermopy- 
lae, some  account  of  it  will  be  necessary  to  a  proper  understand- 
ing of  the  story  of  its  heroic  defense.  It  was  first  established 
as  the  Alamo  Mission  by  the  Franciscan  Friars  in  1718  and  the 
cornerstone  of  the  building  was  laid  May  8,  1745.  A  volunteer 
who  visited  the  fort  eoon  after  the  battle  sent  the  following 
description  to  the  Hesperian,  or  Western  Monthly  Magazine 
published  at  Columbus,  Ohio:  "  The  Alamo,  the  grave  of  poor 


LIFE   OP   DAVY   CROCKETT.  283 

Crockett,  he  writes,  stands  on  the.  east  side  of  the  river,  on  an 
eminence  which  commands  the  entire  city.  It  is  a  quadrangular 
fort,  including  the  third  of  an  acre,  with  walls  from  eighteen  to 
twenty  feet  in  height,  and  no  less  than  four  or  five  feet  in  thick- 
ness. Within  the  limits  of  the  fort  is  a  large  stone  church  now 
in  ruins.  On  the  east  and  west,  parallel  walls  were  constructed 
in  the  inside,  fifteen  feet  from  the  outer  walls.  Beams  were 
laid  from  one  to  the  other  a  few  feet  from  the  top,  and  the  space 
filled  by  beaten  earth.  Doors  open  through  the  inner  wall  to 
the  space  between  the  two,  which  was  divided  into  a  number  of 
small  rooms  for  the  accommodation  of  the  garrison." 

It  was  on  a  gray,  cold  Sunday  morning,  the  6th  of  March,  1836, 
that  183  men  (14  of  whom  were  on  the  sick  list  and  unable  to 
take  part  in  the  battle)  attempted  to  check  the  progress  of  five 
thousand  troops  of  Mexico,  commanded  in  person  by  Santa  Anna, 
who  from  his  previous  success  was  deemed  invincible  in  war. 
Had  the  bold  attempt  proved  successful  it  would  have  formed 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  achievements  in  modern  warfare;  but 
the  awful  conclusion  of  the  tragedy  has  stamped  it  as  a  rash 
attempt.  The  disparity  in  numbers  was  so  great  as  to  render 
defeat  and  destruction  morally  certain.  Col.  Travis,  who  com- 
manded during  the  siege,  was  ordered  to  fall  back  upon  the  main 
army  under  the  command  of  General  Houston.  But  a  spirit  of 
chivalry,  of  reckless  daring,  was  stronger  than  the  feeling  of 
military  subordination. 

MASSACRE  OP  A  SQUAD  OP  TEXANS. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  1836,  the  post  was  attacked  by  th« 
advance  division  of  President  Santa  Anna's  army,  numbering 
1,600  men  who  were  repulsed  with  heavy  loss.  About  the  same 
time,  Col.  Johnson,  with  a  party  of  70  men,  while  reconnoitering 
to  the  west  of  San  Patricio,  was  surrounded  in  the  night  by  a 
large  body  of  Mexican  troops.  In  the  morning  an  uncondi- 
tional surrender  was  demanded  which  was  refused;  but  an  offer 
of  surrender  was  made  as  prisoners  of  war,  which  was  acceded 
to  by  the  Mexicans.  But  no  sooner  haol  the  Texans  marched  out 

19 


290  STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 

of  their  quarters  and  stacked  their  arms,  than  a  general  fire  was 
opened  upon  them  by  the  whole  Mexican  force ;  the  Texans  at- 
tempted to  escape,  but  only  three  of  them  succeeded,  one  of 
whom  was  Colonel  Johnson. 

Between  the  25th  of  February  and  the  2d  of  March  the  Mexi- 
cans were  employed  in  throwing  up  intrenchments  around  the 
Alamo,  and  bombarding  the  place.  On  the  latter  date  Colonel 
Crockett  wrote  that  two  hundred  shells  had  been  thrown  into  the 
Alamo  without  injuring  a  man.  On  the  day  before,  the  garrison 
of  the  Alamo  received  a  re-enforcement  of  thirty-two  Texans 
from  Gonzales,  having  forced  their  way  through  the  enemy's 
lines,  augmenting  the  number  in  the  Alamo  to  183  men,  while 
that  of  the  besieging  force  amounted  to  between  5, 000  and  7,000. 
Santa  Anna,  who  was  a  few  days  behind  his  advance,  now  reached 
the  scene,  and  his  presence  was  announced  by  a  salute  of  cannon. 
The  drama  was  soon  to  open  with  all  its  horrors.  On  the  4th  of 
March  a  Mexican  council  of  war  was  held  and  it  was  determined 
to  carry  the  place  by  assault  on  the  6th  at  daylight.  The  following 
evening  Col.  Travis,  havingbeen  apprised  of  the  intention  of  Santa 
Anna,  assembled  his  little  band  within  the  court  of  the  Alamo, 
and  first  solemnly  tracing  a  long  line  with  the  point  of  his  sword, 
delivered  a  short  address.  He  frankly  admitted  to  his  men  that 
unless  re-enforcements  speedily  reached  them  from  the  Texan  army 
that  there  was  at  best  only  a  desperate  hope  for  their  escape,  as 
the  place  would  be  stormed  in  the  morning  by  an  overwhelming 
force.  There  were,  he  said,  three  courses  to  pursue.  One  was 
to  surrender  on  the  best  terms'  that  could  be  made  and  take  their 
chances ;  the  second  was  to  undertake  a  retreat,  and  the  third  to 
remain  and  die  like  men  for  their  country ;  as  for  himself  the 
latter  would  be  his  course  and  he  called  upon  all  who  chose  to 
die  with  him  to  cross  over  the  line  he  had  drawn.  Instantly 
the  whole  party,  and  without  a  remark  being  made3  rushed  over 
the  line.  Their  choice  was  made.  Even  the  brave  Colonel  Bowie 
(of  bowie-knife  fame)  who  was  sick  on  his  cot,  called  loudly  for 
the  boys  to  pick  him  up  and  carry  him  across  the  line,  which  was 
immediately  done. 


LIFE    OF    DAVY    CROCKETT. 


ATTACK   OX   THE   ALAMO. 

Before  daylight  next  morning  Santa  Anna  ordered  the  bugles 
sounded  as  the  signal  for  the  charge,  and  soon  the  Alamo  was 
surrounded  by  the  whole  Mexican  army.  They  rushed  to  the  as- 
sault —  the  infantry  being  divided  into  two  columns,  and  sup- 
ported by  cavalry,  —  amid  a  deadly  volley  of  cannon  shot  and 
musketry.  The  army  made  a  simultaneous  attack  on  the  three 
sides  of  the  fortress,  but  were  hurled  back  by  a  withering  fire 
which  swept  down  nearly  two  hundred  of  the  enemy  and  almost 
obstructed  the  passage  of  those  behind.  But  the  army  soon 
reformed  for  another  onset.  The  bugle  again  sounded  the 
charge,  and  a  second  time  the  Mexicans  rushed  forward,  but  only 
to  meet  the  same  deadly  flame  that  prevented  them  before  from 
reaching  the  foot  of  the  walls  against  which  they  sought  to  place 
their  scaling  ladders. 

The  Texans  stood  to  their  guns  firing  at  close  and  long  range, 
while  during  a  short  lull  in  the  battle  the  Mexican  bands  were 
playing  the  dequelo,  which  signifies  no  quarter. 

All  this  time  three  batteries,  planted  on  a  commanding  hill  in 
the  rear  of  the  town,  were  sending  their  shots  against  the  fortress 
walls,  making  occasional  breeches,  but  which  were  repaired  be- 
fore the  enemy  could  turn  them  to  advantage.  But  doomed  as 
they  appeared  to  be  the  patriots  never  thought  of  surrender  and 
resolved  to  ask  no  quarter  in  any  extremity.  Many  acts  of  won- 
derful valor  were  performed  in  this  fierce  and  unequal  struggle. 
It  is  related  that  during  a  short  lull  In  the  attack  a  Mexican  was 
seen  at  a  distance  of  two  hundred  yards  from  the  fort  busy  in 
making  some  repairs,  or  perhaps  constructing  a  battery.  Hi? 
person  was  completely  exposed  and  he  worked  as  one  regardlesi 
of  danger.  In  this  situation  he  caught  the  eye  of  Crockett,  who 
put  a  suitable  charge  into  his  rifle  and  taking  his  station  on  one 
of  the  angles  of  the  fort,  where  he  was  exposed  to  every  gun  of 
the  besiegers,  let  drive  at  the  enemy.  At  the  crack  of  his  rifle  the 
Mexican  leaped  into  the  air,  shot  directly  through  the  heart,  a 
victim  to  the  intrepid  hunter  and  no  less  skillful  fighter, 


292  -STORY    OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

The  tragedy  now  hastened  to  a  terrible  conclusion.  Such  was 
the  extent  of  the  fort,  that  it  required  the  incessant  vigilance  of 
all  the  besieged,  at  the  different  points  of  attack,  to  repel  the  as- 
saults, which  were  generally  made  upon  the  three  sides  simul- 
taneously. A  third  and  final  charge  was  now  made  by  the  Mex- 
icans on  the  doomed  fort.  Santa  Anna  gave  the  signal  for  the 
onslaught  to  his  buglers  from  a  battery  near  the  Commerce 
Street  Bridge.  General  Castrillo,  a  brilliant  officer,  was  in  im- 
mediate command  of  the  assaulting  columns,  while  Santa  Anna, 
in  person,  encouraged  the  Mexicans  with  assurances  of  victory. 

This  time  the  enemy  reached  the  foot  of  the  walls  and  succeeded 
in  planting  their  ladders,  up  which  they  rushed  in  a  tumultuous 
horde,  and  met  the  brave  defenders,  who  with  clubbed  guns,  not 
having  time  to  reload  them,  fought  until  they  fell  in  their  bloody 
tracks,  overwhelmed  by  sheer  force  of  numbers.  Then  com- 
menced the  last  struggle  of  the  garrison.  Colonel  Travis  wi 
killed  within  the  first  hour  of  the  storming  of  the  garrison.  H< 
met  his  death  like  a  true  hero  while  standing  on  the  wall  cheerii 
his  men,  having  first  met  the  assailants  and  run  his  sword  througl 
the  body  of  General  Monro,  who  led  the  storming  party,  the  tw< 
fierce  warriors  expiring  almost  at  the  same  moment  locked  together. 

DEATH   OF    CROCKETT. 

On  the  fall  of  Travis  the  command  of  the  Texans  devolve 
on  Adjutant,  Major  J.  J.  Baugh,  who  was  mortally  wounded 
the  course  of  another  hour,  and  was  succeeded  by  Crockett,  wh< 
likewise  soon  fell.     He  was  found  dead  within  the  Alamo,  in  ai 
angle  made  by  two  houses,  lying  on  his  back,  a  frown  on  his 
brow,  a  smile  of  scorn  on  his  lips,  his  knife  in  his  hand,  a  dead 
Mexican  lying  across  his  body,  and  twenty -two  more  lying  pell- 
mell  before  him  in  the  angle.     Major  Evans  was  shot  while  set- 
ting fire  to  the  magazine,  according  to  the  order  of  Travis. 

The  fate  of  Col.  Bowie  is  better  known  from  a  female  serv- 
ant who  was  so  fortunate  as  to  escape  the  general  destruction. 
On  the  night  of  the  attack  he  was  confined  to  his  cot,  as  pre- 
viously stated,  by  sickness.  When  the  Mexicans  broke  over  the 


THE    MEXICAN   ASSAULT   ON   THE    ALAMO. 


293 


294  STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 

walls  several  of  them  rushed  to  his  apartment,  but  were  met  at 
the  door  by  ''ae  sick  man,  who  had  summoned  strength  to  meet 
the  invaders,  and  whose  arm,  nerved  by  desperation,  was  still 
able  to  wield  the  knife  that  bears  his  name.  For  a  time  he  kept 
the  assailants  at  bay,  but  when  they  at  length  crowded  upon  him 
nearly  a  dozen  were  dispatched  before  a  ball  crashed  through  his 
brain,  when  he  fell  upon  the  bloody  heap  he  had  made  at  the 
door. 

THE   MASSACRE. 

At  last  the  numbers  of  the  patriots  were  so  thinned  that  the 
few  who  remained,  exhausted  with  long  fighting,  began  to  relax 
in  their  exertions,  when  the  Mexicans  rushed  forward  and  sur- 
rounding them  on  all  sides,  butchered  and  cut  them  te  pieces. 
But  with  all  this  bloody  work  before  him,  still  the  last  man  re- 
fused to  cry  for  quarter,  preferring  to  die  with  his  comrades. 

Total  extermination  succeeded  the  successful  assaultr  and  of 
all  the  persons  in  the  place  Mrs.  Dickinson  and  her  child,  and  a 
negro  servant  of  Col.  Travis  were  alone  spared. 

Half  an  hour  after  sunrise,  the  gallant  spirits  who  had  so 
bravely  defended  the  post,  and  killed  and  wounded  more  than 
five  times  their  own  number,  were  sweltering  in  their  own  gore 
where  they  fell,  and  Santa  Anna,  surrounded  by  his  life-guards, 
made  his  triumphant  entry  into  the  fort.  As  he  entered  the 
fortress,  among  the  heaps  of  dead  he  discovered  the  body  of 
Major  Evans ;  with  a  savageness  and  cowardice  which  distinguished 
him  he  drew  his  dirk  and  planting  his  knee  upon  the  dead  man 
thrust  it  twice  into  the  noble  breast.  General  Cos  was  no  less  a 
barbarian,  who  sought  his  revenge  in  a  most  cowardly  and  in- 
human act.  Finding  the  servant  of  Col.  Travis  he  compelled 
him  to  point  out  the 'body  of  his  dead  master;  when  with  his 
sword  he  mangled  the  face  and  limbs  with  the  ferocity  and  feel- 
ings of  a  Comanche  savage.  The  bodies  of  the  valiant  defenders 
were  then  stripped,  thrown  into  a  heap  and  burned. 

Immediately  after  the  capture,  General  Santa  Anna  sent  Mrs. 
Dickinson  and  the  servant  to  General  Houston's  camp,  accom- 
panied by  a  Mexican  dispatch  bearer,  who  carried  a  note  from 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  295 

Santa  Anna,  offering  the  Texans  general  amnesty  if  they  would 
lay  down  their  arms  and  submit  to  his  government.  General 
Houston's  reply  was,  "  True,  sir,  you  have  succeeded  in  killing 
some  of  our  brave  men,  but  the  Texans  are  not  yet  conquered." 

The  preceding  account  of  the  storming  and  capture  of  the 
Alamo  is  based  upon  information  current  throughout  Texas,  but 
that  it  contains  many  mistakes  I  can  have  no  doubt.  The  cir- 
cumstances were  such  as  prevented  any  entirely  authentic  descrip- 
tion, except  we  give  reliance  to  the  story  as  related  by  the  Mexicans 
themselves ;  but  even  these  could  not  tell  us  how  all  the  brave 
Texans  died.  In  many  respects  the  battle  and  massacre  resem- 
bled that  in  which  Custer  surrendered  up  his  life  on  the  Little 
Big  Horn,  when  only  a  single  friendly  Indian  was  left  to  tell  the 
harrowing  details,  and  even  his  story  is  hardly  worthy  of  com- 
plete reliance. 

I  have  gathered  from  a  new  source  an  account  of  the  scenes 
following  the  capture  of  the  Alamo,  which  is  of  undoubted  inter- 
est and  historical  value  as  well,  since  the  particulars  are  related 
by  one  in  whom  those  who  know  him  place  implicit  confidence. 

For  the  facts  as  here  recorded  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  W.  P. 
Tuber,  of  lola,  Texas,  who  learned  them  from  a  Mexican  fifer 
named  Apolinario  Saldigua,  a  boy  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  who 
was  an  eye-witness  of  the  scenes  he  described.  This  boy  was 
best  known  as  Poleen,  or  Polin,  an  abbreviation  of  his  Christian 
name,  who  related  to  Mr.  Tuber  the  sad  story  substantially  as 
follows :  — 

STORY   OF   THE   MEXICAN   FIFER. 

After  the  fort  (the  celebrated  church  of  the  Alamo  at  San 
Antonio)  'iad  been  stormed  and  all  of  its  defenders  had  been  re- 
ported to  have  been  slain,  and  when  the  Mexican  assailants  had 
been  recalled  from  within  the  walls,  Santa  Anna,  accompanied 
by  his  staff,  entered  the  fortress.  Polin,  being  a  fifer,  and  there- 
fore a  privileged  person,  and  possibly  the  more  so  on  account  of 
his  tender  age,  by  permission  entered  with  them.  He  desired  to 
see  all  that  was  to  be  seen ;  and  for  this  purpose  he  kept  himself 
near  to  his  general-in-chief .  Santa  Anna  had  ordered  that  no 


296  '  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

corpses  should  be  disturbed  till  after  he  had  looked  upon 
them  all,  and  seen  how  every  man  had  fallen.  He  had  employed 
three  or  four  citizens  of  San  Antonio  to  enter  with  him,  and  to 
point  out  to  him  the  bodies  of  several  distinguished  Texans. 

The  principal  corpses  that  Santa  Anna  desired  to  see  were  those 
of  Colonel  W.  Barrett  Travis,  Col.  James  Bowie,  and  another 
man,  whose  name  Polin  could  not  remember,  but  which,  by  his 
description,  must  have  been  Crockett. 

On  entering  the  fort,  the  eyes  of  the  conquerors  were  greeted 
by  a  scene  which  Polin  could  not  well  describe.  The  bodies  of 
the  Texans  lay  as  they  had  fallen,  and  many  of  them  were  cov- 
ered by  those  of  Mexicans  who  had  fallen  upon  them.  The  close 
of  the  struggle  seemed  to  have  been  a  hand-to-hand  engagement, 
and  the  number  of  dead  Mexicans  exceeded  that  of  the  Texans. 
The  ground  was  covered  by  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  Santa  Anna 
and  suite  for  a  time  wandered  from  one  apartment  of  the  fortress 
to  another,  stepping  over  and  upon  the  dead,  and  seemingly  en- 
joying this  scene  of  human  butchery. 

After  a  general  reconnoitering  of  the  premises,  the  dictator 
came  upon  the  body  of  Col.  Travis.  After  viewing  the  form  and 
features  for  a  few  moments,  Santa  Anna  thrust  his  sword  through 
the  dead  man's  body  and  turned  away.  He  was  then  conducted 
to  the  remains  of  the  man  (Crockett)  whose  name  Polin  could 
not  remember.  This  man  lay  with  his  face  upward,  and  his  body 
was  covered  by  those  of  many  Mexicans  who  had  fallen  upon 
him.  His  face  was  florid,  like  that  of  a  living  person,  and  he 
looked  like  a  healthy  man  asleep.  Santa  Anna  also  viewed  him 
for  a  few  moments,  thrust  his  sword  through  his  breast,  and 
turned  away. 

The  one  who  had  come  to  point  out  certain  bodies  made  a  long 
but  unsuccessful  search  for  that  of  Col.  Bowie,  and  reported  to 
Santa  Anna  that  it  could  not  be  found. 

Then  a  detail  of  Mexican  soldiers  came  into  the  fort.  They 
were  commanded  by  two  officers,  a  captain,  and  a  junior  officer 
whose  title  Polin  could  not  explain,  but  whom  I  shall  for  con- 
venience call  the  lieutenant.  They  were  both  quite  young  men, 


LIFE    OF    DAVY    CROCKETT.  297 

very  fair,  very  handsome,  and  so  nearly  alike  in  complexion, 
fcrm,  size  and  features,  that  Polin  judged  them  to  be  brothers, 
the  captain  being  apparently  a  little  older  than  the  other.  Polin 
did  net  remember  to  have  seen  them  before,  was  confident  that 
he  never  saw  them  afterward,  and  he  did  not  learn  their  names. 

After  the  entry  of  this  detail, Santa  Anna  and  his  suite  retired; 
but  the  two  officers,  with  their  men,  remained  within.  The  two 
kept  themselves  close  together,  side  by  side.  Polin  was  desirous 
to  know  what  was  to  be  done,  and  remained  with  the  detail,  and 
to  enable  himself  to  see  all  that  was  to  be  seen,  he  kept  near  the 
two  officers,  never  losing  sight  of  them. 

As  soon  as  the  dictator  and  suite  had  retired,  the  squad  began 
to  take  up  the  dead  Texans  and  to  bring  them  together  and  lay 
them  in  a  pile,  but  before  thus  depositing  them  the  Mexicans 
rifled  the  pockets  and,  in  many  cases,  stripped  the  bodies  of  all 
clothing. 

The  two  officers  took  a  stand  about  the  center  of  the  main 
area.  The  first  corpse  was  brought  and  laid  as  the  captain  di- 
rected. This  formed  a  nucleus  for  the  pile.  The  bodies  were 
brought  successively,  each  by  four  men,  and  dropped  near  the 
captain's  feet.  In  imitation  of  his  general,  the  captain  viewed 
the  bodies  of  each  Texan  for  a  few  moments,  then  thrust  his 
sword  through  it,  after  which  the  mutilated  corpse  was  cast  upon 
the  heap  at  another  motion  of  the  captain's  sword. 

When  the  Texans  had  all  been  thrown  upon  the  pile,  four 
soldiers  walked  around  it,  each  carrying  a  can  of  camphene,  that 
was  poured  upon  the  bodies  for  a  funeral  pyre.  This  process 
was  continued  until  the  bodies  were  thoroughly  wetted.  Then  a 
match  was  cast  upon  the  pile,  and  the  combustible  fluid  instantly 
sent  up  a  flame  to  an  immense  height. 

While  the  fluid  was  being  thrown  upon  the  pile,  four  soldiers 
brought  a  cot,  on  which  lay  a  sick  man,  and  set  it  down  by  the 
captain,  and  one  of  them  remarked:  "  Here,  captain,  is  a 
man  who  is  not  dead."  "  Why  is  he  not  dead?  "  said  the  cap- 
tain. "  We  found  him  in  a  room  by  himself,"  said  the  soldier. 
"  He  seems  to  be  very  sick  and,  I  suppose,  he  was  not  able  to 


298 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST, 


fight,  and  was  placed  there  by  his  companions,  to  be  in  a  safe 
place  and  out  of  the  way."  The  captain  gave  the  sick  man  a 
searching  look,  and  said:  "  I  think  I  have  seen  this  man  before." 
The  lieutenant  replied:  "I  think  I  have,  too,"  and,  stooping 
down,  he  examined  his  features  closely.  Then,  raising  himself 
up,  he  addressed  the  captain:  "  He  is  no  other  than  the  infamous 
Col.  Bowie 


HEROIC    DEATH    OF    CROCKETT. 


The  captain  then  also  stooped,  gazed  intently  on  the  sick  man's 
face,  assumed  an  erect  position,  and  confirmed  the  conviction  of 
the  lieutenant. 

The  captain  looked  fiercely  upon  the  sick  man,  and  said: 
"  How  is  it,  Bowie,  that  you  have  been  found  hidden  in  a  room 
by  yourself;  and  have  not  died  fighting,  like  your  companions?" 
To  which  Bowie  replied  in  good  Castilian:  "  I  should  certainly 


LIFE    OF   DAVY   CROCKETT.  299 

have  done  so;  but  you  see  that  I  am  sick,  and  cannot  get  off  this 
cot."  "Ah,  Bowie,"  said  the  captain,  "you  have  corne  to  a 
fearful  end  —  and  well  do  you  deserve  it.  As  an  immigrant  to 
Mexico  you  have  taken  an  oath,  before  God,  to  support  the  Mex- 
ican Government;  but  now  you  are  violating  that  oath  by  fight- 
ing against  the  very  government  which  you  have  sworn  to  defend. 
But  this  perjury,  common  to  all  of  your  rebellious  countrymen, 
is  not  your  only  offense.  You  have  married  a  respectable  Mexi- 
can lady  and  are  fighting  against  her  countrymen.  Thus  you 
have  not  only  perjured  yourself,  but  you  have  also  betrayed  your 
own  family." 

"  I  did,"  said  Bowie,  "  take  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitu- 
tion of  Mexico;  and  in  defense  of  that  Constitution  am  I  now 
fighting.  You  took  the  same  oath,  when  you  accepted  your 
commission  in  the  army;  and  you  are  now  violating  that  oath, 
and  betraying  the  trust  of  your  countrymen,  by  fighting  undei 
a  faithless  tyrant  for  the  destruction  of  that  Constitution,  and  for 
the  ruin  of  your  people's  liberties.  The  perjury  and  treachery 
are  not  mine,  but  yours.'9 

A  HORRIBLE  RECITAL. 

The  captain  indignantly  ordered  Bowie  to  shut  his  mouth.  "  I 
shall  never  shut  my  mouth  for  your  like,"  said  Bowie,  "  while  I 
have  a  tongue  to  speak."  "I  will  soon  relieve  you  of  that," 
said  the  captain. 

Then  he  caused  four  of  his  minions  to  hold  the  sick  man,  while 
a  fifth,  with  a  sharp  knife  split  his  mouth,  on  each  side,  to  the 
ramus  of  the  jaw,  then  took  hold  of  his  tongue,  drew  as  much  of 
it  as  he  could  between  the  teeth,  out  of  his  mouth,  cut  it  off  and 
threw  it  upon  the  pile  of  dead  men.  Then,  in  obedience  to  a 
motion  of  the  captain's  sword,  the  four  soldiers  who  held  him, 
lifted  the  writhing  body  of  the  mutilated,  bleeding,  tortured  in- 
valid from  his  cot,  and  pitched  him  alive  upon  the  funeral  pile. 

At  that  moment  a  match  was  touched  to  the  bodies.  The 
combustible  fluid  instantly  sent  up  a  flame  to  an  amazing  height. 
The  sudden  generation  of  a  great  heat  drove  all  the  soldiers  back 
the  wall.  The  officers,  pale  as  corpses,  stood  gazing  at  the 


300  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

immense  column  of  fire,  and  trembling  from  head  to  foot,  a3  if 
they  would  break  asunder  at  every  joint.  Polin  stood  between 
them,  and  saw  and  heard  the  lieutenant  whisper,  in  a  faltering 
and  broken  articulation:  "  It  takes  him  —  up — to  God." 

Polin  believed  that  the  lieutenant  alluded  to  the  ascension, 
upon  the  wings  of  that  flame,  of  Bowie's  soul  to  that  God  who 
would  surely  award  due  vengeance  to  his  fiendish  murderers. 

Not  being  able  to  fully  comprehend  the  great  combustibility 
of  the  camphene,  Polin  also  believed  that  the  sudden  elevation 
of  that  great  pillar  of  fire  was  an  indication  of  God's  hot  dis- 
pleasure toward  those  torturing  murderers.  He  further  believed 
that  the  two  officers  were  of  the  same  opinion,  and  thus  he 
accounted  for  their  great  agitation.  And  he  thought  that  the 
same  idea  pervaded  the  whole  detail,  as  every  man  appeared  to 
be  greatly  frightened. 

For  a  time  Polin  stood  amazed,  expecting  each  moment  that 
the  earth  would  open  a  chasm  through  which  every  man  in  the 
fort  would  drop  into  perdition.  Terrified  by  this  convictioo,  ha 
left  the  fort  as  speedily  as  possible. 

On  a  subsequent  day  Polin  entered  the  fort  again.  It  was  then 
cleansed,  and  it  seemed  to  be  a  comfortable  place.  But  iw  a 
conspicuous  place,  in  the  main  area,  he  saw  the  one  relic  of  the 
great  victory  —  a  pile  of  charred  fragments  cf  human  bouea. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  301 

CHAPTER    XII. 

HOW   THE   NEWS    WAS    BROUGHT    TO    THE    STATES. 

HE  fall  of  the  Alamo,  or  "  Bexar,"  as  the 
tail  end  of  the  name  of  the  town  was  then 
called,  happened  on  the  morning  of  the 
Gth  day  of  March,  1836.  With  the  tele- 
graph facilities  of  the  present  day,  the 
particulars  would  have  been  flashed  to 
the  farthest  extremities  of  the  States  and 
across  the  continent  of  Europe  to  the 
most  distant  capitals  before  sundown. 
But  at  that  time  the  news  was  twenty- 
three  days  in  getting  to  New  Orleans,  and  was  a  month  before 
it  reached  New  York.  The  schooner  Comanche  brought  the 
first  report  of  the  slaughter  via  the  Gulf  from  Texas,  and  it 
was  first  published  in  the  New  Orleans  Bulletin  on  the  29tb,  or 
more  than  three  weeks  after  the  battle.  On  the  same  day  tne 
Louisiana  Gazette  had  the  news  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  from  Mr , 
Briscoe,  from  near  the  scene  of  the  massacre,  who  sent  the  par- 
ticulars by  pony  express  to  Natchitoches,  where  it  was  printed 
in  the  Red  River  Herald.  From  Natchitocne*  a  passenger 
brought  a  copy  on  the  steamer  Levant  tr  iNew  Orleans.  From 
New  Orleans  the  letter  was  carried  by  sailing  vessel  around  by 
ocean  to  New  York,  where,  on  the  16th  of  April,  it  was  printed 
in  Horace  Greeley's  New  Yorker,  so  that  the  news  was  exactly 
forty  days  in  getting  before  the  New  York  readers.  As  a  matter 
of  curiosity  the  letter  containing  the  fall  of  the  Alamo  is  here 
given  ;  it  will  be  seen,  when  compared  with  the  facts  as  subse- 
quently moulded  into  history,  to  be  about  as  correct  as  the  first 
bulletins  of  war  news  usually  are :  — 

COPY   OF   FIRST   DISPATCH. 

To  Editor  Red  River  Herald: 

SIR  —  Bexar  has  fallen!     Its  garrison  was  only  187  strong, 
commanded  by  Lieut. -Col.  W.  Travis.     After  standing  repeated 


302  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

attacks  for  two  weeks,  and  an  almost  constant  cannonade  and 
bombarding  during:  that  time,  the  last  attack  was  made  on  the 
morning  of  the  6th  inst.  by  upwards  of  2,000  men  under  the 
command  of  Santa  Anna  in  person.  They  carried  the  place 
about  sunrise,  with  the  loss  of  520  men  killed,  and  about  the 
same  number  wounded.  After  about  an  hour's  fighting  the 
whole  garrison  was  put  to  death  (save  the  sick  and  wounded 
and  seven  men  who  asked  for  quarter).  All  fought  des- 
perately until  entirely  cut  down.  The  rest  were  coolly  mur- 
dered. The  brave  and  gallant  Travis,  to  prevent  his  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  shot  himself.  Not  an  individual  es- 
caped, and  the  news  is  only  known  to  us  by  a  citizen  of  Bexar, 
who  came  to  our  army  at  Gonzales  —  but  from  the  cessation  of 
Travis'  signal  guns,  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  truth.  *  *  * 
Col.  James  Bowie  and  David  Crockett  are  among  the  slain  —  the 
first  was  murdered  in  his  bed,  in  which  he  had  been  confined  by 
illness  —  the  latter  fell  fighting  like  a  tiger.  The  Mexican  army 
is  estimated  at  8,000  men;  it  may  be  more  or  less. 

A.  BRISCOE. 

The  same  number  of  the  paper,  containing  the  above,  has  an 
editorial,  by  Mr.  Greeley,  on  the  startling  news,  which  concludes 
as  follows :  — 

GREELEY' s  EULOGY  ON  CROCKETT. 

"  There  is  one  item  of  the  disastrous  intelligence  from  Bexar, 
which  struck  us  with  even  more  painful  interest  than  was  excited 
by  the  general  disaster.  We  allude  to  the  death  of  the  intrepid 
and  true-hearted  Col.  David  Crockett,  who  had  enrolled  him- 
self under  the  banner  of  the  Texans  from  a  sentiment  of  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  of  liberty,  as  pure  and  chivalrous  as  ever 
animated  the  human  bosom.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
imputed  eccentricities  of  the  f rank  Tennesseean's  political  career, 
we  believe  he  left  no  enemies  on  earth,  and  that  many  a  noble 
heart  will  heave  a  sigh  at  the  recollection  of  his  manly  virtues, 
his  uncalculating  honesty  of  purpose  and  independence  of  char- 
acter, his  simplicity  and  kindness  of  heart,  and  the  generous  gal- 
lantry which  impelled  him  to  seek  an  untimely,  but  glorious 
death  beneath  the  swords  of  the  Mexican  enslavers.  May  the 
flowers  of  the  far  prairie  cluster  thickly  and  brightly  above  his 
mouldering  ashes." 

THE   UPRISING   TO   AVENGE    CROCKETT'S    DEATH. 

Everywhere  the  fall  of  the  Alamo,  and  particularly  the  death 
of  the  gallant  Crockett,  was  received  with  expressions  of  sorrow. 


LIFE    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT.  303 

From  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  northern  lakes,  the  fate  of  that  he- 
roic spirit  was  bewailed  with  unfeigned  tokens  of  universal  grief. 
From  Tennessee  and  other  Southern  States  volunteers  proffered 
their  services  to  avenge  his  fall,  and  even  a  company  of  seventy- 
four  men,  under  Col.  E.  K.  Stanley,  sailed  from  New  York  for 
the  Brazos  and  volunteered  their  services  in  the  cause  of  Texan 
independence,  stimulated  to  this  action  solely  by  their  desire  to 
avenge  the  death  of  Crockett.  The  Convention  of  Texas,  then 
in  session  at  Washington,  the  capital  of  the  State,  took  a  firm 
course  on  hearing  of  the  barbarities  committed  by  the  more  than 
savage  conquerors  of  the  Alamo,  and  of  the  death  of  Travis  and 
Crockett,  by  ordering  a  draft  of  two-thirds  of  the  population,  and 
the  confiscation  of  the  property  of  all  who  refused  to  serve.  Cal- 
vin Henderson,  who  was  in  the  Convention  Hall  when  the  ex- 
press arrived  bringing  the  mournful  intelligence  that  San  Antonio 
de  Bexar  had  at  length  fallen,  sent  out  the  following  stirring 
dispatch:  "  Poor  David  Crockett  was  one  of  the  garrison  of  San 
Antonio.  His  bravery  was  more  than  gallant.  His  example  ani- 
mated everybody.  His  death  was  worthy  of  himself.  He  cer- 
tainly killed  twenty-five  of  the  enemy  during  the  siege.  Tell 
his  friends  to  come  and  avenge  his  deatli" 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  heroic  example  of  Crockett  and  his 
brave  comrades  roused  hundreds  to  join  General  Houston,  and 
nerved  the  arm  of  many  a  Texan  to  avenge  their  deaths.  Santa 
Anna  followed  up  his  barbarous  system  of  warfare  and  no  quarter, 
until  his  utter  rout  at  San  Jacinto,  when  the  poor  devils  of  Mexi- 
cans would  hold  up  their  hands,  cross  themselves,  and  sing  out, 
"  Me  no  Alamo,"  but  nothing  could  save  them.  The  blood  of 
our  countrymen  was  too  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  Texans  to 
let  one  Mexican  escape,  until  worn  down  with  pursuit  and 
slaughter,  they  commenced  making  prisoners. 

CHARACTER   OF    CROCKETT. 

It  is  wonderful  to  look  back  and  realize  the  hold  that  David 
Crockett  had  in  the  hearts  and  affections  of  the  American  people 
in  his  day.  Before  he  entered  Congress  his  reputation  was  only 
local.  He  was  known  among  his  constituents  in  Tennessee  as  the 


304  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

great  "bar  hunter/'  and  stories  were  told  of  his  conflicts  witn 
the  wild  "  varmints  "  amid  the  canebrakes,  and  his  tusseis  w:th 
the  catamounts  and  bears  brought  down  by  his  trusty  rifle  from 
the  branches  of  the  girdled  trees  in  the  corn  and  cotton  fields. 
Even  the  very  negroes  of  the  South,  when  they  heard  of  his 
bravery  in  bear  fights  and  skill  in  possum-hunting,  would  roll  up 
their  yellow  eyes  and  say:  "  Him  a  hoss,  dat  Massa  Crockett." 
It  was  not  till  he  came  to  Washington  that  his  reputation  fol- 
lowed him.  Stories  were  told  of  his  hunting  exploits,  and  his  curt 
sayings  were  quoted  and  circulated  ail  over  the  country.  Such 
expressions  attributed  to  him  as  "Be  sure  you're  right,  then  go 
ahead,"  became  a  popular  maxim,  and  is  as  firmly  imbedded  in 
the  language  as  any  of  the  sayings  of  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke, 
or  of  any  of  the  distinguished  celebrities  who  were  the  colleagues 
in  Congress  of  Col.  Crockett.  His  renown  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
where  his  unique  character  was  drawn  in  glowing  colors,  and  set 
forth  as  an  original  specimen  of  an  American  great  man.  Visit- 
ors at  Washington  had  Crockett  pointed  out  as  one  of  the  lions 
in  Congress.  A  New  York  correspondent,  among  some  pen  and 
ink  sketches  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  "  the  old  man  eloquent," 
George  McDuffie,  who  rolls  out  his  words  and  bites  them  off; 
Burgess,  "  the  bald  eagle  of  the  House  ;  "  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
"  theTecumseh  killer,"  and  Ed  ward  Everett,  "  the  accomplish 
scholar  and  fine  writer,"  says  of  our  "  hunter  statesman: 
"  Crockett,  there  is  a  better  Neptune  and  holds  a  steadier  trident. 
And  when  a  man  can  grin  and  fight,  flag  a  steamboat,  or  whip  his 
weight  in  wild-cats,  what  is  the  use  of  reading  and  writing. 
What  singular  samples  of  our  vast  country !  Here  sits  a  Tennes- 
seean  and  there  a  Missourian,  educated  among  buffaloes  and  nur- 
tured in  the  forest — as  intimate  with  the  passes  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  as  the  citizen  with  Broadway  ;  who  lives  where  hunt- 
ers and  trappers  have  vexed  every  hill,  and  who  cares  no  more 
for  a  Pawnee  than  a  professed  beau  for  a  bright  plumed 
belle." 

But    Crockett,  aside  from  his  reputation   as   a  hunter  and 
quaint  story-teller,  won  popularity  from  his  honesty,  integrity 


LIFE   OF   DAVY   CROCKETT. 


305 


and  frankness  of  manner.  Natural  and  unaffected,  his  daily  life 
was  a  protest  against  false  pretension,  affectation,  pomposity,  the 
conventionalism  and  artificial  manners  of  the  pampered  votaries 
of  fashionable  life.  Crockett  needed  none  of  these  circumstances 
to  bring  his  greatness  to  light.  His  tour  to  Boston  was  a  perfect 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  TO  THE  HEROES  OF  THE  ALAMO. 

ovation.     His  words,  casually  dropped,  were  gathered  up  and  treas- 
ured as  genuine  mint-drops. 

Gen.  George  P.  Morris,  in  the  New  York  Mirror,  wrote  of 
Crockett,  "We  know  not  how  many  ages  the  fame  of  this  gen- 
tleman will  last,  but  he  certainly  makes  a  'pretty  considerable 
noise'  in  his  own  times;  and  though  he  may  not  be  so  great  a 
man  as  Lafayette,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  is  a  great  man  in 

20 


306  STORY   OP   THE   WILD   WEST. 

his  way.  *  He  who  is  fated  to  rise  in  the  world  will  do  so,  in 
spite  of  all  obstacles,'  says  the  old  adage;  we  firmly  believe  in 
its  truth,  and  that  Mr.  Crockett,  if  he  were  not  born  great,  was 
foreordained  to  achieve  greatness.  No  rudeness  of  language  can 
disguise  strong  sense  and  shrewdness  ;  and  a  '  demonstration,'  as 
Bulwer  says,  *  will  force  its  way  through  all  perversions  of  gram- 
mar.' David  Crockett  is  neither  grammatical  nor  graceful  —  we 
cannot  say  that  he  possesses  eloquence ;  but  verily  there  is  some- 
thing, a  certain  je  ne  sais  quoi  in  the  man  that  makes  people 
attentive  whenever  he  opens  his  mouth.  Honest  Davy,  who 
knows  as  little  of  Lindley  Murray  as  he  does  of  Horace,  hears 
his  name  resound  from  one  end  of  the  Union  to  the  other.  His 
fame  rolls  on  increasing,  like  an  avalanche,  and  burying  beneath 
its  mass  the  names  of  all  the  minor  worthies  of  the  West.  The 
hunter  of  Columbia  Eiver,  in  his  loudest  boasting,  calls  himself 
the  best  man  in  the  world,  after  David  Crockett."  (The  above 
extract  was  written  in  February,  1834,  two  years  before  Crockett's 
death.) 

A  short  time  before,  some  author,  led  by  the  love  of  money, 
gave  to  the  public  a  spurious  work  which  he  called ' '  The  Life  of 
David  Crockett."  David,  very  indignant,  promptly  denied  its 
authenticity,  and  forthwith  disabused  the  world  by  writing  a 
true  memoir  of  himself  called  '«  David  Crockett's  Own  Book," 
from  which  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  quote  freely,  believing  it 
difficult,  and  to  me  impossible,  to  improve  upon  the  original 
text. 

In  summing  up  the  character  of  Davy  Crockett  I  may,  without 
.exaggeration,  pronounce  him  a  prototype  of  all  that  is  noble, 
courageous,  honest  and  unselfish  devotion  to  principle.  Had  he 
been  at  Troy  at  the  historic  siege  Homer  would  have  immor- 
talized him  in  his  heroic  verse. 


LIFE  OF  KIT  CARSON. 


CHAPTER    I. 

'HE  HEROES    THAT   PREPARED    THE    WAY    FOR    WESTERN   SETTLE- 
MENT. 

NDER  wise  and  courageous  leaderships  the 
great  West  has  been  reclaimed  from  the  sav- 
age, and  in  the  desperate  dispute  for  perma- 
nent possession  of  that  rich  and  vast  region 
lying  beyond  the  Alleghenies  many  heroes 
were  developed,  whose  names  and  valorous 
deeds  deserve  perpetuation  in  the  annals  of 
American  history.  But  justice  in  this  respect 
has  been  so  tardy  that  we  have  now  to  de- 
plore the  fact  that  a  majority  of  the  brave  spirits  who  partici- 
pated in  the  wars  and  hardships  of  Western  settlement  have  not 
even  received  the  small  meed  of  a  mention  in  the  history  of  our 
progress  as  a  nation.  To  those  thus  unremembered  I  beg  to  pay 
the  tribute  of  my  hearty  appreciation  and  praise,  and  to  lay  the 
laurel  of  my  country's  gratitude  upon  their  neglected  graves. 
Though  unmarked  be  their  beds,  we  may  hope  that  fairy  fingers 
bedeck  them  with  sweetest  wildwood  flowers,  and  that  the  cho- 
rus of  nature  makes  ceaseless  music  above  their  sacred  dust. 

The  practice  has  long  obtained  among  all  nations  of  bestowing 
personal  praise  upon  particular  leaders  in  every  victory,  and  giv- 
ing scanty  thanks,  in  general  expressions,  to  those  who  fight  in 
the  ranks.  I  am  sorry  that  circumstances  prevent  me- from  de- 
parting from  that  rule,  for  I  can  in  truth  and  sincerity  say,  that 
for  all  my  comrades,  humble  as  many  of  them  have  been,  if 

307 


308 


gTORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 


measured  by  the  official  positions  they  held,  I  entertain  a  warmth 
of  friendship  quite  as  great  as  if  they  were  the  mightiest  kings 
of  earth  and  value  their  good  opinions  no  less  highly.  But  I  am 
debarred  the  pleasure  which  an  extended  description  of  their 
brave  and  noble  deeds  would  afford  me  by  reason  of  my  lack  of 
knowledge  of  particulars,  and  because  the  number  of  those 
worthy  of  this  recognition  is  so  large  that  the  necessary  space  is 
not  at  my  disposal.  To  overcome  the  embarrassment  of  this  po- 
sition, somewhat,  I  have  therefore  chosen  to  describe  the  lives  of 
three  representative  characters  best  known  in  frontier  history, 

whose  careers  coincide 
with  as  many  distinct  peri- 
ods; to  wit,  that  of  the 
flint-lock,  percussion-cap, 
and  repeating  rifle.  In 
the  life  of  Boone  we  have 
a  history  of  that  period 
corresponding  with  the 
age,  so  to  speak,  of  the 
flint-lock  rifle,  from  1770 
to  1820;  Crockett  lived 
in  the  secondary  period, 
or  when  the  percussion- 
cap  rifle  had  superseded 
the  unreliable  pan-flashing 
weapon  of  the  very  early  settlers,  his  active  career  beginning  at 
the  close  of  that  of  Boone' s  and  ending,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a 
blaze  of  heroism,  in  1836.  Carson  belonged  to  the  tertiary 
epoch  of  Western  settlement,  when  the  frontier  had  been  pushed 
across  the  plains  to  the  shores  of  the  beating  sea,  and  during 
whose  eventful  career  the  repeating  rifle  was  invented  and  first 
brought  into  use.  He  was  the  natural  successor  of  Crockett, 
both  in  the  order  of  chronological  sequence  and  as  a  promoter 
of  Western  civilization.  We  have,  therefore,  in  the  history  of 
these  three  men  a  description  of  the  reclamation  and  develop- 
ment of  a  belt  of  our  country  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  and  south 


KIT    CARSON. 


LIFE    OF    KIT    CARSON.  309 

of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  Line,  and  incidentally,  sketches  of 
many  of  the  brave  men  who  helped  to  make  the  first  trail  across 
the  continent. 

ANOMALOUS    CHARACTER    OF   KIT    CARSON. 

No  character  of  which  history  gives  any  account  presents  more 
anomalous  peculiarities  than  that  of  Kit  Carson.  His  whole 
nature"  was  enigmatic,  for  no  two  persons,  however  intimate  they 
might  have  been  with  him,  whether  on  the  plains  or  in  the  coun- 
cils of  white  men  or  Indians,  could  agree  in  their  estimation  of 
his  traits  of  character.  Like  the  Temple  of  Janus,  he  always 
presented  two  or  more  unlike  sides,  each  so  distinctly  prominent 
that  those  about  him  were  invariably  diverse  in  their  opinions 
respecting  his  disposition.  He  was,  apparently,  at  once  the 
polished  gentleman  and  the  rough  plainsman ;  shrinking  from  and 
courting  danger  at  the  same  time ;  an  adviser  and  the  reckless 
mad-cap  of  his  companions;  large  in  his  own  estimation,  yet 
modest  and  most  unpretentious  among  his  associates;  a  lover  of 
peace,  though  still  the  organizer  of  discord.  In  brief,  he  -was 
unlike  any  person  save  himself  alone,  and  had  it  been  possible 
his  spirit  would  certainly  have  abandoned  its  own  castle,  so  as 
to  present  a  perfect  dissimilarity.  These  strange  peculiarities 
will  be  partly  seen  in  the  following  biographical  sketch,  which 
pretends  to  no  other  merit  than  that  of  a  faithful  portraiture, 
after  a  thorough  consideration  of  all  the  available  facts  connected 
with  his  remarkable  career. 

Christopher  (Kit)  Carson's  birth-place  has  been  variously 
located,  and  all  authors  who  have  attempted  to  write  the  history 
of  his  adventures  have  usually  prefaced  their  labors  with  an 
argument  attempting  to  prove  their  respective  claims,  some 
asserting  that  he  was  born  in  Kentucky,  others  in  Illinois  and  yet 
others  claiming  Missouri  as  his  place  of  nativity.  The  opinion 
of  the  writer,  gained  from  proofs  adduced  by  Peters  and  Bur- 
dett,  both  of  whom  have  been  Carson's  biographers,  is,  that  his 
native  place  was  Madison  County,  Kentucky,  where  he  was  born 
on  the  24th  of  December,  1809.  In  the  following  year  the  fam- 
ily removed  to  what  was  then  Upper  Louisiana,  bub  what  is  now 


310  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

Missouri,  settling  in  a  region  of  country  which,  at  this  time,  is 
defined  as  Howard  County. 

MISSOURI   IN   THE   EARLY   DAYS. 

Gen.  John  C.  Fremont,  during  his  great  exploring  expedition 
through  the  West  in  the  years  1843-44,  employed  Kit  Carson  as 
his  chief  guide,  and  in  giving  an  exhaustive  report  of  his  travels 
and  discoveries  devoted  much  space  to  a  description  of  the  re- 
nowned hunter  and  his  wonderful  adventures.  The  General,  in 
this  report,  claims  that  Carson  was  a  native  of  Boonslick  County, 
Missouri,  but  as  there  is  no  such  county  in  that  State  the  asser- 
tion furnishes  the  proof  of  its  own  error.  It  is  very  probable, 
however,  that  Gen.  Fremont  meant  Boone  County,  which  adjoins 
"Coward,  and  as  Missouri  was  not  organized  into  counties  until 
eorne  time  after  Carson's  birth,  being  ceded  to  the  United  States 
by  France  in  1804  and  admitted  as  a  State  in  1821,  the  causes 
which  led  to  such  an  error  are  manifest.  Another  important 
fact  in  this  connection  affords  a  still  readier  means  f cr  determin- 
ing the  cause  of  the  error  referred  to,  and  also  the  reasons  which 
induced  a  removal  of  Kit  Carson's  father  to  Missouri,  which  may 
be  stated  as  follows :  — 

Directly  after  the  formation  of  the  territorial  government  over 
Missouri,  the  great  Salt  Springs  of  Howard  County,  bearing  the 
name  of  "  Boonslick,"  in  honor  of  Daniel  Boone,  the  famous 
Kentucky  woodsman,  became  the  center  of  attraction  to  all  emi- 
grants seeking  homes  west  of  the  Mississippi  Eiver.  Although 
his  section  of  the  country  was  occupied  by  numerous  bands  of 
ndians,  none  of  the  tribes  offered  any  hostility  to  the  settlement 
of  white  men  on  their  lands,  but  the  continued  encroachments 
ind  rapid  settlement  finally  incited  cupidity  and  numerous 
crimes  were  the  consequence.  These  salt  works  were  operated  by 
Major  James  Morrison,  and  with  such  success  that  they  became 
the  means  of  a  rapid  building  up  of  the  new  territory. 

One  of  the  first  offices  opened  by  the  United  States  for  the 
Bale  of  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boonslick  in  the  year  1818,  when  Illinois  had  just  been  admitted 
to  the  sisterhood  of  States.  It  was  immediately  thronged  with 


LIFE   OF   KIT   CARSON.  311 

purchasers  of  lands  which  the  settlers,  however,  had  already  been 
cultivating.  Some  of  these  had  located  themselves  on  the  pub- 
lic domain  »e>  soon  as  it  had  been  purchased  by  the  United  States, 
and  foregoing  personal  safety  and  the  comforts  of  refined  soci- 
ety, had  plunged  into  the  wilderness  and  carved  out  homes  with 
their  own  hands.  Among  this  number  was  the  father  of  Kit 
Carson,  who  became  possessed  of  a  fine  tract  of  land  on  Bonne 
Femme  Creek. 

In  the  year  1810,  when  the  infant  Kit  carne  to  Missouri,  the 
territory  contained  a  population  of  20,845  souls,  and  but  a  single 
newspaper,  the  Gazette,  which  is  still  running  as  the  Missouri 
Republican.  The  primitive  condition  of  the  wilderness  in  which 
the  brave  hunter  was  tc  bo  reared,  and  the  causes  which  led  to 
his  adoption  of  a  hunter's  life,  destined  tc  be  so  replete  with  ad- 
venture, can  thus  be  readily  conceived.  The  numerous  Indian 
wars  which  engaged  the  settlers  during  the  years  of  1811  to  1820 
it  is  hardly  appropriate  tc  describe  here,  especially  since  the 
father  of  Kit  Carson  rarely  participated,  or  if  he  did  no  record 
is  available  from  \\  hich  the  circumstances  may  be  gathered. 

KIT    BOUND    TO    SERVICE    AS    A    SADDLER. 

Kit  Carson's  father,  like  nearly  all  the  early  settlers  of  Mis- 
souri, was  extremely  poor,  and  was  sorely  put  to  it  in  procuring 
the  means  for  support  of  his  large  family.  He  spent  most  of 
his  time  hunting,  subsisting  off  the  meat  thus  obtained  and  de- 
pending for  clothing  upon  the  proceeds  of  sale  of  peltries,  which 
dependence  was  so  precarious  that  his  children  were  generally  so 
illy  clad  daring  winter  that  their  suffering  from  cold  was  acute. 
When  Kit  was  therefore  fifteen  years  of  age  his  father  called 
him  from  the  pursuit  most  congenial  to  his  adventurous  spirit 
(hunting),  and  bound  him  as  an  apprentice  to  a  saddler  named 
Workman.  At  this  employment  Kit  continued  faithfully  for 
two  years,  but  not  from  a  natural  inclination  for  the  dull  monot- 
ony of  his  engagement,  for  he  longed  to  escape  to  wider  and 
freer  fieids,  having  no  intention  of  ever  following  such  a  trade 
even  should  he  finish  his  service.  The  desire  to  throw  off  his 
yoke  of  servitude  grew  on  him  to  such  an  extent  that  at  length 


312  STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

he  deserted  his  master  and,  with  the  hope  of  gratifying  his  ambi- 
tions, joined  a  band  of  traders  that  passed  the  place  where  he 
was  working  en  route  for  Santa  Fe,  New  Mexico.  This  incident, 
which  was  the  turning  point  in  his  life,  occurred  in  1826,  when 
he  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  the  most  impressionable  period  in 
a  youth's  life,  and  it  is  but  natural  that  the  scenes  and  expe- 
riences of  this,  his  first  trip  to  a  strange  region,  should  excite  a 
desire  for  new  adventures  in  the  wild  sections  of  the  far  South- 
west. 

CARSON  AMPUTATES  THE  ARM  OP  A  WOUNDED  COMRADE. 

When  the  expedition  had  proceeded  as  far  as  the  Arkansas 
River,  one  of  the  teamsters,  while  carelessly  handling  a  rifle,  dis- 
charged the  weapon  and  received  the  bullet  in  his  left  arm, 
shattering  the  bone  and  producing  such  a  wound  that  he  nearly 
bled  to  death  before  the  flow  of  blood  could  be  stopped  with  the 
rude  remedies  and  appliances  at  hand.  The  arm  was  bandaged, 
however,  and  the  expedition  continued  on  until  the  third  day 
thereafter,  when  unmistakable  signs  of  gangrene  were  noticeable 
while  dressing  the  wound,  and  it  became  apparent  that  the  man's 
life  could  only  be  saved  by  an  amputation  of  the  arm.  But  who 
among  the  party  could  perform  such  an  operation?  One  after 
another  of  the  older  members  declined  to  undertake  such  a 
responsible  duty,  when  Kit,  seeing  the  extreme  urgency  of 
prompt  action,  stepped  forward  and  volunteered  his  services, 
though  not  without  confessing  his  inexperience  and  reluctance  at 
attempting  such  a  grave  task.  Nevertheless,  he  acted  upon  the 
principle,  which  he  now  thoroughly  comprehended,  that  in  des- 
perate situations  heroic  remedies  must  be  employed.  After  a 
search  among  the  effects  of  the  traders,  no  other  instruments 
could  be  found  useful  in  the  operation  than  a  razor,  handsaw  and 
a  king-bolt.  But  rude  as  were  these  instruments,  Carson  did  not 
hesitate  to  use  them.  With  the  razor  he  carefully  cut  the  flesh 
above  the  fracture,  and  then,  while  four  men  held  the  sufferer, 
he  sawed  the  arm  off  as  he  would  a  stick  of  wood.  A  copious 
hemorrhage  followed  the  amputation,  but  Carson  had  provided 
against  fatal  results  from  this  cause  by  heating  the  king-bolt  to 


LIFE   OF    KIT    CARSON. 

an  intense  heat,  which  he  now  applied  as  a  cautery  and  thus 
speedily  stopped  the  flow  of  blood.     Unskillful  as  was  the  oper- 
ation it  was,  nevertheless,  a  success,  for  the  man  recovered  and 
afterwards  served  with  Carson  in  several  expeditions. 
CARSON'S  FIRST  FIGHT  WITH  INDIANS. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  traders  at  Santa  Fe  Carson  abandoned 
the  party  and  went  to  Fernandez  de  Taos,  where  he  became  in- 
timate with  a  mountaineer  and  remained  during  the  following 
year,  engaged  chiefly  in  breaking  wild  horses,  which,  after  being 
taught,  were  kept  in  haciendos  until  a  rider  could  be  secured  to 
domesticate  them.  Being  thrown  with  Mexicans  exclusively, 
Kit  applied  himself  earnestly  to  the  acquirement  of  the  Spanish 
language,  in  which,  after  a  year  of  study,  he  became  sufficiently 
conversant  to  fill  the  position  of  interpreter  to  a  rich  American 
merchant  named  Trammell,  with  whom  he  made  a  trip  to  El  Paso 
and  Chihuahua.  Leaving  this  service  a  year  afterward,  Carson 
became  teamster  in  an  expedition  fitted  out  by  Robt.  M.  Knight, 
for  a  trip  to  the  copper  mines  on  the  Gila  River,  but  returning 
within  a  few  months  he  again  visited  Taos. 

Having  saved  a  few  dollars  from  the  services  in  which  he  had 
been  employed,  Kit  spent  some  months  in  Taos,  and  until  an 
opportunity  was  offered  him  to  join  a  band  of  forty  trappers 
under  Ewing  Young.  These  trappers  were  organized  into  a  well 
armed  body  in  order  to  repel  the  attacks  of  Indians,  who  bit- 
terly resisted  the  attempts  of  white  men  to  trap  beavers  on  the 
waters  of  the  Gila  or  its  tributaries. 

The  party  proceeded  directly  to  Salt  River,  one  of  the  afflu- 
ents of  the  Rio  Gila,  upon  reaching  which  they  were  attacked  by 
a  body  of  Indians,  but  the  engagement  was  short  and  decisive. 
The  Indians  were  routed  with  severe  loss,  leaving  eleven  of  their 
number  dead  on  the  ground,  their  flight  being  too  hasty  to  per- 
mit of  carrying  the  fallen  ones  with  them.  This  was  Carson's 
first  Indian  fight,  but  he  displayed  the  rare  presence  of  mind  and 
cool  decision  of  character  which  at  once  furnish  the  true  index  to 
the  success  of  his  subsequent  adventures. 

After  trapping  with  much  success  on  the  Salt  and  San  Fran- 


314  STOKY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

cisco  Rivers,  the  company  broke  camp  and  divided,  one  portion 
returning  to  Santa  Fe  and  the  other,  eighteen  in  number,  includ- 
ing Carson,  started  for  the  Sacramento  Valley,  California.  In 
this  dreary  journey,  rendered  more  difficult  by  the  dry  deserts 
through  which  the  route  lay,  the  party  suffered  greatly  for  want 
of  both  food  and  water.  So  reduced  did  they  become  before 
reaching  their  destination  that,  availing  themselves  of  the  last  re- 
source, they  killed  several  of  their  horses,  drinking  the  blood  and 
consuming  the  flesh  of  the  faithful  animals.  Reaching  the  beau- 
tiful valley  of  the  Sacramento,  after  we^ks  of  exhausting  effort, 
they  began  trapping  again  for  beaver,  in  which  occupation  they 
spent  several  months  most  profitably. 

BATTLE  BETWEEN  TWELVE   WHITES    AND  A  HUNDRED  INDIANS. 

Shortly  before  the  close  of  the  trapping  season  a  band  of 
Digger  Indians  came  upon  the  party  during  the  night  and  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  off  nearly  all  their  horses,  fleeing  with  the  ani- 
mals to  the  mountains.  The  Mohave  Indians  at  the  mission  of 
San  Gabriel,  with  whom  the  trappers  had  been  maintaining  com- 
mercial intercourse,  kindly  loaned  the  party  the  necessary  num- 
ber of  horses  to  pursue  the  dusky  thieves.  Carson,  though 
scarcely  twenty  years  of  age,  had  nevertheless  demonstrated  his 
marvelous  abilities  as  a  fighter,  and  to  him  was  entrusted  the 
leadership  of  the  expedition  for  the  recovery  of  the  stolen  horses. 
Accordingly,  selecting  eleven  of  his  comrades,  and  leaving  the 
remainder  to  protect  the  camp  and  peltries,  he  started  after  the 
marauding  Indians  without  having  the  slightest  idea  of  their  num- 
ber. But  discovering  the  trail  soon  after,  no  doubt  was  left  that 
the  band  comprised  not  less  than  one  hundred  savages.  But  this 
fact  did  not  deter  him  in  his  previously  formed  resolution,  for 
he  advanced  with  all  possible  speed  through  valleys  and  over 
mountains  until  the  fresh  trail  admonished  him  to  move  more 
cautiously.  More  than  a  hundred  miles  from  the  trappers'  camp 
the  red  skins  were  discovered  during  a  late  hour  in  the  afternoon, 
just  as  they  were  going  into  camp  for  the  night. 

Having  located  the  Indians  and  taken  careful  note  of  the  sur- 
roundings, the  time  had  now  come  for  an  exhibition  of  Carson's 


LIFE   OF  KIT  CARSON. 


315 


abilities.  Twelve  men  set  over  against  a  hundred  furnished  an 
inequality  which  could  only  be  compensated  by  extraordinary 
cunning  and  complete  surprise.  Kit  was  fully  equal  to  the  oc- 
casion, and  his  comrades  having  perfect  confidence  in  the  dex- 
terity and  capacity  of  their  leader  were  prompt  in  obedience  to 
his  orders. 

Carson  disposed  his  men  in  such  a  manner  that,  while  they 
remained  concealed  from  view,  they  could  yet  readily  distinguish 
every  movement  of  the  Indians,  ascertain  the  location  of  sen- 
tinels and  the  weak  points  in  the  camp.  Maintaining  this  position, 
the  party  awaited  the  approach  of  midnight  before  making  an 


RECONNOITERING    THE    INDIANS*    POSITION. 

attack,  the  wisdom  of  which  decision  was  determined  in  the  re- 
sult. Their  purpose  was  assisted  by  the  pall  of  darkness  which 
fell  on  the  landscape,  rendering  objects  almost  invisible  except 
by  a  concentration  of  vision  and  a  previous  knowledge  of  the 
position  occupied  by  the  object  sought. 

When  the  auspicious  hour  had  arrived  Carson  led  his  men  in 
a  careful  detour,  until  having  approached  to  the  position  it  was 
necessary  to  first  reach,  he  made  a  dash,  followed  by  the  others, 
directly  through  the  Indian  camp,  shooting  into  the  tents  as  they 
sped  by,  and  whooping  with  such  vigor  that  the  horse  thieves 
evidently  believed  that  they  had  been  surprised  by  an  entire  tribe 


316 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 


of  native  enemies.  The  direst  confusion  followed  this  sudden 
attack,  and  as  the  greatest  advantage  was  now  offered,  Carson 
and  his  men  rushed  on  to  the  corral,  where  they  found  the  In- 
dians' horses  tethered.  These  they  speedily  released  and  then 
stampeded,  affording  the  party  means  of  escape  during  the  con- 
fusion, for  Carson's  good  judgment  told  him  that  after  the  first 
tremor  of  surprise  had  run  through  the  camp  his  enemies  would 
recover  their  scattered  senses  and  not  only  give  battle  but  follow 
hard  in  pursuit. 

Directing  his  men  to  secure  at  least  one  extra  horse,  sometime 
was  spent  chasing  the  flying  ponies  over  the  mountains,  but  the 

darkness  pre- 
vented  the 
party  from 
capturing  any 
of  the  stam- 
p  e  d  e  d  ani- 
mals until  the 
folio  wing  day 
when  thirty 
head  were 
secured,  and 
the  trappers 
then  returned 
to  their  com- 
panions, who 

had  been  oppressed  with  grave  fears  for  their  safety,  and  hailed 
their  return  with  many  manifestations  of  joy. 

CARSON  FORCED  TO  FLEE  FROM  SANTA  FE. 

Shortly  after  this  event  the  trappers,  still  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Young  as  the  leader,  broke  camp,  and  with  an  immense  quantity 
of  beaver  skins  returned  to  Santa  Fe  over  the  same  route  they 
had  passed  in  going  to  the  Sacramento  and  Jan  Jose  valleys. 
These  products  of  their  labors  they  disposed  of,  and  upon  a  di- 
vision of  the  proceeds,  each  man  in  the  party  was  given  $500  as 
his  share.  In  possession  of  so  much  money,  Carson  was  unable 


STORMING    THE    CAMP. 


LITE   OF   KIT    CARSON.  317 

to  restrain  his  bent  for  indulging  freely  in  the  dissipations  pecu- 
liar to  Mexican  towns,  and  during  this  period  of  hilarious  inter- 
course with  the  rude  natives  he  became  involved  in  a  desperate 
street  brawl,  which  terminated  by  his  flight  after  having  killed 
one  of  his  opponents. 

Being  forced  to  leave  New  Mexico,  owing  to  the  numerous 
threats  made  against  his  life,  Carson  proceeded  toward  Missouri, 
but  meeting  a  party  of  trappers  under  James  Fitzpatrick,  he 
joined  them  in  a  journey  to  Utah.  For  a  time  the  party  trapped 
on  the  Platte,  Sweet  Water,  Goose  and  Salmon  Rivers,  but  with 
indifferent  success ;  besides,  the  Blackfeet  Indians  gave  them 
constant  anxiety,  as  the  tribe  was  a  very  numerous  and  hostile 
one,  whose  delight  was  in  massacring  the  whites. 

In  the  spring  of  1830  Kit  Carson  and  four  others  left  Mr. 
Fitzpatrick's  party  and  proceeded  to  New  Park,  on  the  head- 
waters of  the  Arkansas,  where  they  continued  trapping  in  the 
company  of  Captain  John  Yount  and  twenty  others,  until  the 
return  of  spring  the  following  year.  While  wintering  in  camp 
a  band  of  sixty  Crow  Indians  robbed  the  party  of  several  horses, 
to  recapture  which  Carson  was  dispatched  with  fifteen  men  after 
the  robbers. 

Taking  up  the  trail,  he  followed  the  Indians  until  he  founct 
them  entrenched  behind  a  rude  fortification  of  logs  with  the 
stolen  horses  tied  within  ten  feet  of  their  shelter.  Carson  gave 
his  men  no  time  to  reflect  on  the  rashness  of  his  undertaking, 
but  ordering  an  immediate  charge,  rushed  upon  the  protected 
savages,  nor  did  he  stop  until  he  had  seized  the  horses  and  led 
them  triumphantly  away.  In  this  attack  three  of  Carson's  men 
were  killed,  but  they  were  brought  away,  while  five  of  the  In- 
dians were  slain,  one  of  whom  was  scalped  by  Carson  himself. 

Shortly  after  this  daring  attack  Carson  and  Captain  Yount' a 
men  were  surprised  •  by  a  force  of  two  hundred  Crow  Indians, 
and  the  fleetness  of  their  horses  alone  saved  them  from  a 
massacre.  The  attack  having  been  made  after  due  preparation 
by  the  Indians  they  possessed  all  the  advantages,  not  only  ia 
numbers,  but  also  in  effective  fighting.  No  other  recourse  was 


318 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


therefore  left  Capt.  Yount's  party  but  to  retreat  and  trust  to  the 
fleetness  of  their  horses  for  escape.  The  flight  continued  under 
a  rain  of  arrows  and  bullets  for  nearly  fifty  miles,  the  Indians 
being  determined  to  possess  themselves  of  the  scalps  and  property 
of  the  little  band  of  whites.  Several  of  the  party  were  killed, 
but  Carson  received  only  a  slight  wound.  Had  all  the  In- 
dians been  armed  with  rifles  not  one  of  the  men  would  have  es- 
caped, ,but  being  able  to  keep  a  considerable  distance  in  advance 
of  their  pursuers,  the  range  was  too  great  for  the  effective  use 
of  arrows,  the  few  rifles  the  Indians  possessed  doing  all  the 
execution. 


CHAPTER    II 


A  RASH    UNDERTAKING. 

F  THE  several  expeditions  in  which  Carson 
participated  up  to  this  time  the  last  one 
described  had  proved  the  least  satisfactory 
and  led  him  to  believe  that  trapping  could 
be  carried  on  more  successfully  if  con- 
ducted by  small  parties  than  if  pursued 
by  a  considerable  company.  The  Indians 
were  everywhere  extremely  hostile,  their 
natural  opposition  to  an  invasion  of  their 
hunting  and  trapping  grounds  being  in- 
creased by  the  large  numbers  of  whites 
engaged  in  the  pursuit.  Carson  there- 
fore concluded  that  a  Email  party  of  two 
or  three  might  succeed  better,  by  reason 

of  being  able  to  the  more  easily  disguise  their  operations  and 
escape  the  notice  of  the  Indians.  Accordingly  he  decided  to  be- 
gin trapping  on  his  own  account.  He  therefore  settled  with 
Captain  Yount,  and  early  in  the  spring  of  1832  packed  up  his 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON. 

possessions  and  prepared  to  brave  the  dangers  of  the  forest  alone. 
But  before  setting  out  two  favorite  comrades  who  had  been  con- 
nected with  Yount's  party  expressed  their  desire  to  accompany 
him  ?  which  companionship  Carson  accepted.  The  three  pro- 
ceeded up  the  streams  into  Colorado  —  or  what  is  now  known  as 
Colorado  —  where  they  found  the  beaver  more  abundant,  and 
there  pursued  their  labors  with  considerable  profit  for  nearly  a 
year.  Returning  to  Taos  with  their  furs  they  sold  out  to  much 
advantage,  and  immediately  afterward  Carson  joined  Capt.  Lee 
In  an  expedition  up  Green  River. 

Capt.  Lee's  company  consisted  of  thirty  trappers  under  the 
direction  of  an  old  mountaineer  named  Robideau.  This  experi- 
enced trapper  had  engaged  the  services  of  a  young  California 
Indian  as  a  guide  and  interpreter,  such  native  assistant  being 
rendered  necessary  by  the  hostile  character  of  roving  Indians 
which  the  trappers  were  constantly  meeting. 

In  the  following  October,  1833,  while  the  party  was  encamped 
on  a  tributary  of  Green  River,  and  meeting  with  much  success 
catching  both  beaver  and  otter,  the  young  Indian  guide  contrived 
to  clandestinely  secure  six  of  the  best  horses  belonging  to  the 
company  and  made  his  escape.  The  theft  was  soon  discovered, 
and  Kit  Carson,  who  had  now  become  a  renowned  "  thief- 
catcher,"  was  deputed  to  recover  the  stolen  animals. 

The  thieving  redskin  having  had  several  hours  the  start,  and 
Carson  being  little  acquainted  with  the  country,  he  procured  the 
services  of  a  Utah  Indian  to  assist  him  in  tracing  the  fugitive. 

KILLING  AN   INDIAN   AT   LONG   RANGE. 

The  trail  was  not  definitely  determined  until  the  second  day 
after  Kit  and  his  companion  had  started  out,  but  once  they  be- 
came certain  of  the  discovery  the  speed  at  which  their  pursuit 
was  conducted,  after  one  hundred  miles  had  been  made,  disabled 
the  Utah  Indian's  horse  so  that  he  could  proceed  no  further,  and 
being  unwilling  to  accompany  Kit  on  foot,  he  returned  again  to  the 
camp  of  his  tribe.  Carson,  however,  not  to  be  deterred  in  his 
undertaking,  pressed  on  alone  and  after  a  half-day's  further  ride 
discovered  the  thievin  Indian  ridin  one  of  the  stolen  horpea 


320 


STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


and  leading  the  five  others.  Almost  at  the  same  moment  that 
Carson  sighted  the  Indian  the  fugitive  also  saw  his  pursuer,  and 
a  fight  to  the  death  each  realized  was  inevitable.  The  Indian, 
who  carried  a  rifle  and  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  shot,  besides 
being  possessed  of  the  courage  to  make  his  skill  in  an  encounter 
most  effective,  leaped  from  his  horse  and  sought  shelter.  Kit 
fully  comprehended  the  tactics  of  the  Indian,  and  the  distance 
being  great  between  them  ho  concluded  to  hazard  a  shot,  know- 
ing that  he  could  reload  before  the  Indian  could  reach  him, 
especially  since  he  was  mounted.  Therefore,  stopping  his  horse, 


CARSON  KILLS   AN  INDIAN   THIEF   AT   LONG   RANGE. 

Kit  drew  a  bead  on  the  Indian  as  he  was  making  for  a  tree,  and 
fired.  The  aim  was  so  perfect  that  the  thief  fell  forward  dead, 
with  a  bullet  through  his  body.  This  shot  was  in  a  measure  ac- 
cidental, for  the  distance  was  fully  three  hundred  yards,  and  the 
Indian  being  at  the  time  in  a  brisk  run,  the  aim  was  rendered 
more  doubtful. 

The  six  horses  were  recovered  and  returned  to  the  camp  after 
an  absence  of  six  days,  and  for  his  services  Captain  Lee  and 
Robideau  presented  Carson  with  a  large  quantity  of  peltries, 
which  made  the  incident  one  of  great  profit  to  him. 


LIFE   OF  KIT   CARSON.  321 

In  the  following  year,  1834,  Carson,  in  company  with  three 
excellent  companions,  concluded  to  spend  a  season  trapping  on 
the  Laramie,  a  stream  reputed  to  be  fairly  alive  with  beaver, 
otter  and  mink.  The  expectations  of  the  party  were  fully  real- 
ized a  few  weeks  later,  when  they  had  pitched  their  tents  on  the 
banks  of  that  clear,  but  sometimes  doubtful  river.  In  fact, 
during  all  of  Carson's  experience  as  a  trapper,  he  never  met  with 
success  equal  to  that  which  he  found  on  the  Laramie. 

THRILLING   ADVENTURE    WITH   A    GRIZZLY   BEAR. 

On  one  occasion,  while  he  was  acting  as  hunter  during  this 
most  profitable  season,  to  obtain  a  fresh  supply  of  meat,  he  met 
with  an  adventure  so  full  of  peril  that  he  never  afterward  enter- 
tained the  least  desire  to  be  similarly  situated.  Game  of  every 
kind  was  very  abundant,  and  within  a  mile  of  the  camp  he  killed 
a  large  elk,  but  as  he  was  proceeding  to  cut  its  throat,  suddenly 
there  appeared,  coming  toward  him,  a  species  of  game  for  which 
he  had  not  been  hunting.  A  large  grizzly  bear,  one  of  the  most 
ferocious  and  dreadful  denizens  of  North  American  forests, 
moved  by  hunger,  resolved,  apparently,  to  make  the  hunter  its 
victim.  Time  was  just  now  very  precious  to  Kit,  so  that  he 
made  all  possible  use  of  his  extremities  in  reaching  the  nearest 
tree,  leaving  his  unloaded  gun  lying  beside  the  animal  he  had 
just  killed.  The  bear,  not  discovering  the  dead  elk,  made  direct- 
ly for  Kit,  who  managed,  but  just  how  he  was  never  able  to  tell, 
to  ascend  a  goodly  sized  tree  in  time  to  save  himself  from  the 
voracious  maw  of  the  terrible  beast.  But  his  perch  appeared 
decidedly  unsafe,  as  the  bear  would  rear  up  almost  to  the  limb 
on  which  he  was  seated,  opening  its  mighty  jaws  and  blowing 
hot  gusts  of  air  through  teeth  nearly  as  long  as  a  man's  finger. 
At  every  lunge  it  made  Kit  felt  that  the  bear  would  surely  reach 
him,  which  caused  him  to  involuntarily  hitch  up  his  legs  while  all 
the  flesh  would  crawl  as  though  it  were  trying  to  get  on  top  of  his 
head.  Grabbing  about  for  something  with  which  to  defend  him- 
self, he  twisted  off  a  branch  from  the  tree,  and  this  he  dexter- 
ously used  in  striking  the  nose  of  the  grizzly  whenever  it  reached 

si 


322 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


up  its  head  uncomfortably  close.     This  so  enraged  the  brute  that 
it  fell  to  gnawing  the  body  of  the  tree,  but  being  able  to  make 


CARSON'S  ADVENTURE  WITH  A  GRIZZLY  BEAR. 

but  little  impression,  abandoned  that  and  began  growling  with  a 
fierceness  which  made  Kit  quake  with  the  most  direful  anticipa- 
tions 


LIFE    OF   KIT   CARSON.  323 

The  bear  kept  him  a  prisoner  in  the  tree  until  nearly  midnight, 
when  it  began  to  walk  around  the  spot,  gradually  extending  the 
circle  until  it  at  length  scented  the  dead  elk,  upon  which  it  speedily 
gorged  itself,  and  then  disappeared  in  the  woods.  Kit  got  down 
from  his  anxious  seat  speculating  on  the  probabilities  of  the 
bear's  return,  and  though  every  bone  in  his  body  seemed  to  be 
splitting  from  the  strain  to  which  he  had  been  subjected,  he  nev- 
ertheless made  excellent  speed  toward  the  camp.  His  comrades 
had  become  very  much  alarmed  at  his  prolonged  absence,  and  a 
safe  return  fully  compensated  them  for  their  beaver  supper,  from 
which  unsavory  game  they  had  been  compelled  to  satisfy  their 
hunger  in  the  absence  of  more  desirable  meat. 

CARSON   WOUNDED   WHILE    SAVING  A   FRIEND. 

After  collecting  several  hundred  valuable  peltries,  Carson  and 
his  companions  went  to  Santa  Fe,  where  the  product  of  their  sea- 
son's trapping  was  disposed  of  satisfactorily.  But  Kit  did  not 
remain  idle  more  than  a  few  days,  for  he  soon  found  opportunity 
of  joining  another  party  of  fifty  men  bound  for  the  Blackfeet 
country,  on  the  Upper  Missouri.  The  trip  was  a  long  and  tedious 
me,  and  in  the  end  proved  not  only  unprofitable  but  disastrous  to 
several  of  the  men,  including  Kit  himself,  for  they  had  struck  a 
country  In  which  none  of  them  had  ever  been  before,  and  to  add 
to  their  other  hardships  they  had  penetrated  a  section  held  by  a 
tribe  of  the  most  treacherous  and  cruel  Indians  on  the  frontier, 
which  made  eternal  watchfulness  the  price  of  their  safety. 

Shortly  after  the  encampment  of  the  party  on  Big  Snake  River, 
a  band  of  Blackfeet  stampeded  the  horses  of  the  whites  and  stole 
eighteen  of  their  best  animals.  Carson,  to  whom  the  whole  com- 
pany looked  for  needful  assistance,  at  once  proposed  pursuit,  and 
taking  twenty  of  the  best  men  in  the  expedition,  set  out  after  the 
thieves.  A  heavy  snow  covered  the  ground,  which  made  the  trail 
easy  to  follow  until  on  the  succeeding  night,  when  another  fall  of 
snow  began  to  rapidly  obliterate  the  tracks.  The  pursuit  was 
continued  with  all  possible  speed  until  the  trail  had  become  so 
nearly  extinct  that  Kit  and  another  experienced  trailer  named 


324  STORY   OP  THE   WILD   WEST. 

Markland  had  to  leave  their  horses  from  time  to  time  during  the 
night  and  search  for  the  tracks  by  the  aid  of  small  torches. 

The  party  rode  for  a  distance  of  seventy-five  miles,  the  latter 
half  of  the  journey  being  made  through  extraordinary  difficulties, 
before  they  came  in  sight  of  the  Indians.  The  thieving  Black- 
feet,  numbering  about  forty  warriors,  discovered  their  pursuers, 
but  instead  of  trying  to  escape,  stopped  and  desired  a  parley  with 
the  trappers,  which  being  consented  to,  some  time  was  spent  in 
speech-making  and  pipe-smoking.  The  Indians  declared  that 
they  had  no  intention  of  wronging  the  whites,  and  had  taken  the 
horses  because  they  thought  the  animals  belonged  to  the  Snake 
[ndians,  their  enemies.  But  with  all  their  protestations  of 
friendship,  they  still  refused  to  deliver  up  the  stolen  animals. 
An  attempt  was  then  made  by  the  trappers  to  take  their  property 
by  force,  which  brought  on  a  fight  as  Kit  had  anticipated. 

The  Indians  were  armed  chiefly  with  bows  and  arrows,  but  a 
few  of  them  had  rifles,  which  they  had  obtained  at  various  trad- 
ing posts.  The  Indians,  therefore,  while  twice  as  many  in  num- 
ber as  the  trappers,  were  not  nearly  so  well  armed,  and  the  fighting 
advantages  were  about  equal.  Every  man,  red  and  white  alike, 
sought  the  protection  of  trees  and  carried  on  the  battle  with  all 
the  cunning  available.  Carson  and  Markland  were  bosom  com- 
panions and  fought  from  adjacent  shelters.  It  chanced  that  they 
were  directly  opposed  by  two  swarthy  warriors,  each  of  whom 
was  also  armed  with  a  rifle.  As  Kit  sought  opportunity  to  fire  at 
his  antagonist  he  discovered  another  Indian  in  the  act  of  taking  a 
deadly  aim  at  Markland,  who  was  unconscious  of  his  own  dan- 
ger. Kit  instantly  turned  his  weapon  on  the  Indian  and  shot  him 
dead,  thereby  saving  his  comrade's  life;  but  in  this  commenda- 
ble act  he  came  near  sacrificing  his  own  life,  for  the  Indian  he 
had  been  previously  watching  fired,  the  bullet  striking  Kit  in  the 
left  shoulder,  shattering  the  bone  and  making  a  terrible  wound. 
The  fight  continued  with  unabated  fury  until  nightfall,  when  the 
Indians  drew  off,  taking  their  stolen  property  with  them. 

Carson  was  found  by  his  companions  lying  in  the  snow  per- 
fectly conscious,  but  refusing  to  make  any  manifestation  of  th* 


LIFE    OF    KIT    CAKSON. 


325 


great  suffering  he  was  enduring.     He  had  gathered  his  coat  in    a 
lump  at  the  shoulder,  trying  to  staunch  the  flow  of  blood  which 


had  saturated  the  clothing  on  his  left  side.     The  cold  had  at  last 
stopped  the  ebbing  life-current,  but  not  until  he  was  so  weak 


326  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

that  it  became  necessary  to  carry  him  back  over  the  long  route 
and  through  the  deep  snow  to  the  trappers'  camp.  Three  others 
of  the  party  were  killed  and  four  wounded,  but  those  that  were 
injured  were  fortunately  able  to  ride.  It  was  a  terrible  journey 
to  Kit,  but  he  endured  his  sufferings  with  such  fortitude  that 
those  who  ministered  to  his  needs  could  not  comprehend  how  se- 
vere was  the  pain  he  felt. 

CARSON'S  DUEL  WITH  A  BIG  FRENCHMAN. 

Upon  their  return  to  camp,  Capt.  Bridger  took  thirty  men  and 
started  out  again  after  the  depredating  Blackfeet,  but  though  he 
beat  the  country  for  more  than  a  week,  he  was  unable  to  find  the 
trail,  and  so  returned  without  accomplishing  anything. 

Soon  after  this  unfortunate  incident  in  the  season  on  Big 
Snake  Kiver,  the  party  left  that  immediate  section  and  camped 
on  Green  River,  where  they  were  joined  by  a  large  party  of 
Frenchmen  and  Canadians  who  were  trapping  for  the  Hudson 
Bay  Fur  Company.  The  camp,  by  these  accessions,  numbered 
about  one  hundred  men,  a  force  sufficient  to  afford  some  security 
against  hostile  Indians. 

Carson  was  not  long  in  establishing  a  most  favorable  reputa- 
tion among  the  men,  because,  while  some  in  the  party  knew  how 
courageously  he  had  always  deported  himself  in  moments  of  ex- 
treme peril,  they  all  soon  learned  that  under  every  circumstance 
he  remained  courteous  and  obliging,  which  won  respect  quite  as 
quickly  as  his  reputation  for  bravery. 

Among  the  number  of  imported  trappers  was  a  large  French- 
man named  Shuman  ;  a  man  particularly  fond  of  bad  whisky  and 
who  delighted  in  bullying  his  companions.  He  was  rarely  en- 
gaged in  a  fight  himself,  because  his  arrogant  boasts  had  intimi- 
dated nearly  all  the  men ;  but  not  content  with  his  own  autocratic 
domineering,  he  found  pleasure  in  creating  discord  and  embroil- 
ing comrades.  On  one  occasion,  while  riding  about  the  camp 
with  gun  in  hand,  Shuman,  among  other  indiscriminate  insults, 
began  a  tirade  of  abuse  directed  against  the  Americans,  pro- 
nouncing them  scullions  and  chicken-liver ed  scoundrels,  who 
merited  nothing  but  thrashings  with  hickory  withes  for  their 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON. 


cowardice  and  villainy.  This  unprovoked  language  aroused  the 
spirit  of  Carson,  who  stepped  forward  toward  the  boasting 
Frenchman  and  said: — 

11 1  am  an  American,  and  no  coward  ;  but  you  are  a  vaporing 
bully,  and  to  show  you  how  Americans  can  punish  liars,  I'll 
fight  you  here  in  any  manner  your  infamous  heart  may  desire." 

Shuman  fairly  boiled  over  with  rage  at  this  proposition  from 
a  man  so  far  inferior  to  him  in  size  ;  besides,  he  had  never  before 
had  his  privilege  of  abusing  the  men  questioned.  He  therefore 
replied: — 

*  *  If  you  want  to  be  killed  I  have  no  objections  to  shooting  you 
as  I  would  a  dog.  Get  on  your  horse  and  fight  me,  starting  at 
one  hundred  yards 
and  riding  toward 
each  other,  firing  as 
we  come  together. 
Come  on,  you  pale- 
faced  little  scullion  I ' ' 

Kit  returned  no 
answer  to  this  arro- 
gant acceptance  of 
his  challenge,  but 
mounting  his  horse 
he  prepared  for  the 
duel.  The  two  first  CARSON'S  DUEL  WITH  THE  FRENCHMAN. 

rode  apart,  each  -divining  the  purpose  of  the  other,  until  a 
proper  distance  was  reached,  when  they  wheeled  their  horses  as 
if  entering  a  ra'ce  course  under  stipulations,  and  rushed  toward 
each  other.  The  entire  camp  was,  of  course,  speedily  apprised 
of  the  duel,  and  every  trapper  came  out  to  witness  the  combat, 
the  sympathies  of  the  men  being  unanimously  with  Carson. 
Shuman  was  an-excellent  rifleman  and  had  trained  himself  to  fire 
from  his  running  horse  by  shooting  buffaloes,  and  he  therefore 
felt  confident  of  putting  a  bullet  through  the  head  of  his  adver- 
sary. Kit  carried  a  pistol,  but  this  was  from  choice,  as  he  wa9 
an  expert  with  that  weapon.  The  two  determined  men  rushed 


328  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

toward  each  other  like  knights  of  mediaeval  chivalry,  until 
within  a  few  yards,  when  Shuman  raised  himself  in  his  stirrups, 
and  taking  aim,  fired.  The  bullet  went  so  close  to  the  mark 
that  a  lock  of  Kit's  hair  was  seen  to  fall,  cut  from  above  his  ear. 
But  the  aim,  though  good,  had  not  dispatched  a  fatal  messen- 
ger, and  Sbuman  was  compelled  to  take  Kit's  fire.  The  smoke 
from  the  Frenchman's  rifle  was  still  rolling  away  over  his  head 
when  Carson  presented  his  pistol  almost  as  the  heads  of  the  two 
horses  came  together,  and  saluted  his  enemy.  The  ball  struck 
Shuman  in  the  hand,  and  passing  upward  in  the  arm,  lodged  near 
the  elbow.  Though  not  fatal,  the  wound  was  sufficient  to  thor- 
oughly humble  the  desperado,  and  so  change  his  disposition  as 
to  eliminate  all  braggadocio  from  his  character. 

AT   THE   POINT    OF   STARVATION. 

Soon  after  this  incident  the  party  of  trappers  returned  to 
New  Mexico,  and  there  Carson  joined  Capt.  McCoy,  who  was 
outfitting  for  another  expedition  to  the  Yellowstone  in  the  Black- 
feet  country.  This  party,  consisting  of  a  dozen  men,  upon 
arriving  at  the  Yellowstone  found  no  signs  of  either  beaver  or 
otter;  so  breaking  camp,  they  set  out  to  hunt  a  stream  affording 
reasonable  expectations  for  success.  They  continued  to  travel 
through  a  country  supporting  nothing  but  artemesia,  which  barely 
subsisted  their  horses,  until  all  their  provisions  were  exhausted 
and  starvation  seriously  threatened  the  whole  party. 

Day  after  day  went  by  and  still  neither  game  nor  grass  roots 
could  be  found  until  at  length  they  were  reduced  to  such  dreadful 
extremities  that  to  prevent  death  from  starvation  they  bled  their 
horses  and  drank  the  blood.  Happily,  when  it  was  decided  to 
kill  one  of  the  horses  for  its  flesh,  a  body  of  Snake  Indians  ap- 
peared, from  whom  a  fat  pony  was  purchased  and  this  the  party 
killed  and  subsisted  upon  until  they  reached  Ft.  Hall. 

After  a  rest  of  several  days  Carson,  McCoy  and  the  other 
members  of  the  party  equipped  themselves  for  another  trapping 
expedition,  this  time  intending  to  plant  their  traps  on  Green 
River,  but  on  arriving  at  that  stream  another  party  of  nearly  one 
hundred  men  was  found  who.  meeting  with  no  success,  were  pre- 


LIFE    OF   KIT   CARSON.  323 

paring  to  leave  for  the  headwaters  of  the  Yellowstone,  and  if 
finding  no  game  there  had  arranged  to  follow  up  to  the  Missouri 
River  sources. 

A  consolidation  was  made  between  the  two  parties,  who  now 
selected  Carson  and  Mr.  Fontenelle  as  their  leaders.  This  union 
of  forces  was  made  more  as  a  precaution  against  the  Blackfeet 
Indians,  who  were  very  numerous  and  vindictive  in  the  Yellow- 
stone country. 

The  winter,  which  was  very  severe,  was  passed  among  the 
Crow  Indians,  who  were  well  provided  with  large  lodges  made  of 
buffalo  hides ;  some  of  these  were  twenty  feet  in  diameter  with 
an  opening  at  the  top  which  served  as  a  chimney  to  permit  the 
smoke  from  the  fire  inside  to  escape.  But  it  was  difficult  to 
provide  food  for  the  trappers'  horses,  owing  to  a  deep  snow 
which  covered  the  ground  during  the  entire  winter.  It  was  nec- 
essary to  feed  their  horses  on  bark  stripped  from  cottonwood 
trees,  and  twigs  of  willow,  a  collection  of  which  involved  almost 
constant  work. 

EXTRAORDINARY    BRAVERY   OF    CARSON    IN    SAVING   A    FALLEN 

COMRADE. 

When  spring  appeared  the  trappers  started  out  to  begin  oper- 
ations, but  their  first  attempts  were  discovered  by  the  Blackfeet, 
who,  though  greatly  reduced  in  numbers  by  small-pox  which  had 
raged  among  them  during  the  winter,  were  still  a  powerful  tribe, 
('arson,  with  forty  men,  was  attacked  at  their  traps  and  it  was 
only  by  the  most  desperate  fighting  that  they  saved  themselves 
from  annihilation.  The  Indians  were  kept  in  check  until  the 
trappers'  ammunition  was  almost  exhausted,  when  a  retreat  was 
made  back  toward  the  camp.  During  this  movement  a  horse, 
bearing  one  of  the  trappers,  stumbled  and  fell  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  rider  was  thrown  with  great  violence,  and  for  a  time, 
rendered  unconscious.  Five  Indians  rushed  rapidly  forward  on 
their  horses  to  scalp  the  unlucky  rider ;  seeing  which  Carson  ran 
back  to  the  aid  of  his  prostrate  comrade.  He  shot  the  foremost 
Indian  and  held  the  others  at  bay  until  he  revived  the  trapper 
when  the  two  retreated  to  a  place  of  security,  the  Indians  being 
too  cowardly  to  push  their  advantage. 


330 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


It  was  not  long  before  the  other  trappers,  who  had  gone  off  in 
a  southeasterly  direction  to  place  their  traps,  hearing  the  firing, 


ran  to  the  rescue  of  Carson's  party.  With  a  fresh  supply  of 
ammunition  and  re-enforced  by  sixty  men,  Carson  turned  on  the 
Indkns  and  the  fight  was  renewed  with  great  earnestness  by  both 


LIFE    OF   KIT   CARSON.  331 

sides.  The  Indians  were  at  last  defeated  with  a  loss  of  so  many 
of  their  warriors  that  they  beat  a  retreat  and  never  afterward 
molested  the  victorious  trappers. 

After  prosecuting  their  operations  for  two  months  a  large 
number  of  peltries  were  secured  and  the  expedition  then  broke 
camp  and  repaired  to  the  trading  post  on  Nend  Eiver,  where  the 
skins  were  sold  at  a  large  profit. 

Carson's  next  enterprise  was  in  trapping  for  beaver  on  the 
streams  flowing  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  into  Great  Salt  Lake. 
He  took  with  him  only  a  single  companion,  believing  he  could 
operate  more  successfully  without  being  restricted  by  the  limita- 
tions of  a  large  party,  as  the  Utah  Indians  regarded  him  with 
friendly  feelings,  but  opposed  the  invasion  of  their  territory  by 
any  considerable  number  of  white  men. 

CARSON'S  TERRIBLE  FIGHT  WITH  A  MOUNTAIN  LION. 

It  was  while  trapping  in  this  section  that  he  met  with  an  ad- 
venture of  a  truly  thrilling  character.  He  was  walking  along  the 
bank  of  a  stream  where  many  of  his  traps  were  set,  while  his 
companion  was  back  in  camp  preparing  supper.  Carson  had  a 
large  rifle  with  him,  as  was  his  custom,  and  seeing  a  turkey  strut- 
ting along  a  few  yards  in  advance,  was  preparing  to  shoot  It 
when  his  attention  was  directed  to  a  pair  of  fierce  eyes  gleaming 
from  out  the  roots  of  a  great  tree.  It  was  scarcely  twenty  feet 
away,  and  a  moment's  inspection  convinced  him  that  he  was  in 
the  presence  of  a  powerful  mountain  lion.  To  retreat  he  knew 
would  have  invited  the  attack  he  felt  was  about  to  be  made,  BO 
raising  his  rifle  he  fired,  but  there  was  such  a  profusion  of  snake- 
like  roots  surrounding  the  lion's  body  that  his  shot  resulted  only 
in  an  exasperating  wound,  as  it  struck  the  animal  in  the  left 
shoulder.  In  the  next  instant  the  lion  was  upon  him,  roaring 
like  its  ancestral  kith  of  African  jungles.  Carson  had  no  other 
weapon  now  save  the  large  knife  he  carried ,  and  with  this  he  de- 
fended himself  most  valiantly.  But  the  sharp  poniard-like  claws 
of  the  ferocious  beast  penetrated  his  flesh  and  cut  like  a  two- 
edged  sword.  Carson's  shirt  was  ripped  off  him  and  while  he 
slashed  with  his  knife  and  thrust  it  to  the  hilt  time  and  again  iato 


STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 


the  lion's  body,  the  infuriated  animal  still  fought  with  such  suc- 
cess that,  weakened  by  the  loss  of  so  much  blood,  Carson  was 
fairly  on  the  point  of  yielding.  But  it  is  hard  to  give  up  life, 
and  this  universal  human  feeling  impelled  Kit  to  use  his  last 
energies  in  this  terrible  contest.  Fortune  at  last  favored  him, 
for  the  lion  also  much  exhausted,  fell  under  one  of  Carson's 
blows  and  as  it  rolled  on  to  its  back  with  its  dreadful  fangs  still 


CARSON'S  BATTLE  WITH  A  MOUNTAIN  LION. 

fastened  in  the  remnants  of  Kit's  tattered  shirt,  a  plunge  of  the 
knife  deep  into  the  animal's  throat,  severing  its  head  almost 
from  the  body,  terminated  the  battle  in  Carson's  favor. 

But  the  victory  was  purchased  at  a  great  expense,  for  the 
wounded  trapper  was  so  overcome  by  the  lacerations  of  his  flesh 
and  sinews  that  he  fainted  and  would  undoubtedly  have  died  had 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON.  333 

not  his  comrade  in  camp,  alarmed  at  his  long  absence,  instituted 
a  search  which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  bleeding  and  un- 
conscious body  of  his  companion  lying  beside  the  dead  lion.  Kit 
was  carried  back  to  the  camp  and  given  all  the  care  that  one  true 
and  anxious  comrade  can  give  another.  This  tender  and  excellent 
treatment  renewed  the  life  so  near  exhausted,  and  after  a  month 
of  dangerous  suspension  between  life  and  death,  Carson  began  to 
recover  rapidly,  and  in  another  month  was  able  to  renew  his 
labors. 

CARSON'S   MARRIAGE  TO  AN  INDIAN  GIRL. 

After  returning  from  his  trapping  expedition  in  Utah,  which, 
despite  his  terrible  fight  with  the  mountain  lion,  had  proved  a 
profitable  one,  Carson  returned  to  New  Mexico  and  there  made 
an  engagement  with  Messrs.  Bent  and  St.  Vrain  to  hunt  and  sup- 
ply the  garrison  at  Bent's  Fort  with  meat.  It  was  during  this 
occupation  that  he  married  an  Indian  girl  belonging  to  the 
Comanche  tribe.  This  union  was  severed  ten  months  after  by 
the  singular  devotion  of  the  Indian  wife,  who  learning  of  Car- 
son's illness  at  Ft.  Hall,  immediately  mounted  a  horse  and  rode 
the  one  hundred  miles  that  separated  her  from  him  in  twelve 
hours.  This  exertion,  which  was  made  within  two  weeks  after 
she  had  given  birth  to  a  daughter,  brought  on  a  fever  from  which 
she  died  in  a  few  days. 

Carson  sincerely  mourned  the  loss  of  his  young  wife,  who, 
though  she  was  an  Indian,  possessed  many  noble  qualities  of 
heart,  not  the  least  being  her  soul-absorbing  love  for  her  hus- 
band. The  little  girl  baby  was  well  cared  for  by  a  Mexican  family,, 
and  lived  and  grew  under  their  kind  treatment.  Five  years  after 
the  death  of  his  wife  Kit  visited  St.  Louis,  taking  his  child  with 
him  for  the  purpose  of  placing  her  in  an  educational  institution, 
that  she  might  have  the  advantage  of  excellent  schooling  and 
training.  The  little  girl  developed  into  a  stately  and  beautiful 
woman,  and  when  twenty  years  of  age  she  married  a  gentleman 
in  St.  Louis  named  Boggs,  who  is  at  this  time  a  resident  of  Los 
Animos,  Colorado,  where  Kit  Carson,  Jrc,  also  has  his  handsome 
residence. 


334 


STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTEK    HI. 

CARSON  ENGAGED   AS    GUIDE  TO   THE   FREMONT   EXPEDITION. 


HEN  Carson  arrived  in 
St.  Louis  he  was  re- 
ceived with  public 
demonstrations  of  de- 
light and  there  were 
none  too  great  or  rich 
to  pay  him  homage,  as 
he  had  long  been  re- 
garded as  ««  The  Monarch  of  the  Plains." 

At  the  time  of  this  visit  it  chanced  that  Gen.  John  C.  Fremont 
was  in  the  city,  organizing  an  expedition  for  exploring  that  part 
of  the  country  lying  between  Missouri  and  the  Kocky  Mountains. 
Although  this  was  his  original  intention,  the  General  made  the 
overland  trip  to  California,  and  included  in  his  report  all  the  ex- 
plorations along  the  entire  route. 

Gen.  Fremont  sent  for  Carson,  as  soon  as  the  presence  of  the 
great  trapper  became  known  to  him,  and  a  long  interview  between 
the  two  resulted  in  the  employment  of  Carson  as  chief  guide  to 
the  expedition,  which  left  St.  Louis  by  steamer  the  22d  of  May, 
1842.  The  other  members  of  the  exploring  party  consisted  of 
twenty-one  men,  principally  Creoles,  Charles  Preuso,  first  assist- 
ant in  the  topographical  survey,  and  Louis  Maxwell,  of  Kaskas- 
kia,  Illinois,  who  was  engaged  as  hunter. 

The  expedition  disembarked  from  the  steamer  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Kaw  River,  and  then  struck  across  the  broad  prairies  of  Kan- 
sas on  to  the  Platte  River,  for  the  exploration  of  which  a  large 
rubber  boat  was  carried  with  them,  which  was  very  useful  on  sev- 
eral occasions.  From  the  South  Platte  they  followed  the  Oregon 


LIFE    OP   SIT    CARSON.  335 

trail  past  Fort  Laramie  and  from  thence  on  to  the  Kocky  Moun- 
tains. 

AN  EXCITING  BUFFALO  HUNT. 

Just  before  leaving  the  Platte  the  monotony  of  the  journey 
was  relieved  by  a  grand  buffalo  hunt,  which  Gen.  Fremont  de- 
scribes as  follows :  — 

"As  we  were  riding  quietly  along  the  bank,  a  great  herd  of 
buffalo,  some  seven  or  eight  hundred  in  number,  came  crowding 
up  from  the  river,  where  they  had  been  to  drink,  and  commenced 
crossing  the  plain  slowly,  eating  as  they  went.  The  wind  was 
favorable ;  the  coolness  of  the  morning  invited  to  exercise  ;  the 
ground  was  apparently  good,  and  the  distance  across  the  prairie 
(two  or  three  miles)  gave  us  a  fine  opportunity  to  charge  them 
before  they  could  get  among  the  river  hills.  It  was  too  fine  a 
prospect  for  a  chase  to  be  lost;  and  halting  for  a  few  moments, 
tha  hunting  horses  were  brought  up  and  saddled  and  Kit  Carson, 
Maxwell  and  I  started  together.  The  buffaloes  were  now  some- 
what less  than  half  a  mile  distant,  and  we  rode  easily  along  until 
within  about  three  hundred  yards,  when  a  sudden  agitation,  a 
wavering  in  the  herd,  and  a  galloping  to  and  fro  of  some  which 
were  scattered  along  the  skirts,  gave  us  the  intimation  that  we 
were  discovered.  We  now  started  together  at  a  hard  gallop,  rid- 
ing steadily  abreast  of  each  other,  and  here  the  interest  of  the 
chase  became  so  engrossingly  intense  that  we  were  sensible  to 
nothing  else.  We  were  closing  upon  them  rapidly,  and  the  front 
of  the  mass  was  already  in  rapid  motion. 

"  A  crowd  of  bulls,  as  usual,  brought  up  the  rear,  and  every 
now  and  then  some  of  them  faced  about,  and  then  dashed  on 
after  the  herd,  and  then  turned  and  looked  again  as  if  more  than 
half  inclined  to  stand  and  fight.  In  a  few  moments,  however, 
during  which  we  had  been  quickening  our  pace,  the  rout  was 
universal,  and  we  were  going  over  the  ground  like  a  hurricane. 
When  at  about  thirty  yards,  we  gave  the  usual  shout  ( the  hunter's 
pas  de  charge)  and  broke  into  the  herd.  We  entered  on  the 
side,  the  mass  giving  way  in  every  direction  in  their  heedless 
course.  Many  of  the  bulls,  less  active  and  less  fleet  than  the 
cows,  paying*  no  attention  to  the  ground,  and  occupied  solely 
with  the  hunter,  were  precipitated  to  the  earth  with  great  force, 
rolling  over  and  over  with  the  violence  of  the  shock,  and  hardly 
distinguishable  in  the  dust.  We  separated  on  entering  the  herd, 
each  singling  out  his  own  game. 


336  STORY    OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

; 

"  My  horse  was  a  trained  hunter,  famous  in  the  West  under  the 
name  of  Provean,  and  with  his  eyes  flashing,  and  the  foam  flying 
from  his  mouth,  sprang  on  after  the  cow  I  was  pursuing  like  a 
hungry  tiger.  In  a  few  moments  he  brought  me  alongside  of 
her,  and  rising  in  the  stirrups,  I  tired  at  the  distance  of  a  yard, 
the  ball  entering  at  the  termination  of  the  long  hair,  and  passing 
near  the  heart.  She  fell  headlong  at  the  report  of  the  gun,  and, 
checking  my  horse,  I  looked  around  for  my  companions. 

"  At  a  little  distance  Kit  was  on  the  ground  engaged  in  tying 
his  horse  to  the  horns  of  a  cow,  which  he  was  preparing  to  cut 
up.  Among  the  scattered  bands  at  some  distance  below  I  caught 
a  glimpse  of  Maxwell,  and  while  I  was  looking  a  light  wreath  of 
white  smoke  curled  away  from  his  gun,  from  which  I  was  too 
far  to  hear  the  report.  Nearer  and  between  me  and  the  hill  was 
the  body  of  the  herd,  and  giving  my  horse  the  reins  we  dashed 
after  them.  A  thick  cloud  of  dust  hung  upon  their  rear  which 
filled  my  mouth  and  eyes  and  nearly  smothered  me.  In  the 
midst  of  this  I  could  see  nothing  and  the  buffaloes  were  not  dis- 
tinguishable until  within  thirty  feet. 

"They  crowded  together  more  densely  still  as  I  came  upon 
them  and  rushed  along  in  such  a  compact  body  that  I  could  not 
obtain  an  entrance  —  the  horse  almost  leaping  upon  them.  In  a 
few  moments  the  mass  divided  to  the  right  and  left,  the  horns 
clattering  with  a  noise  above  everything  else,  and  my  horse 
darted  into  the  opening. 

"  Five  or  six  bulls  charged  on  us  as  we  dashed  along  the  line, 
but  were  left  far  behind,  and  singling  out  a  cow  I  gave  her  my 
fire,  but  struck  too  high.  She  gave  a  tremendous  leap  and 
scoured  on  swifter  than  before.  1  reined  up  my  horse  and  the 
band  swept  on  like  a  torrent  and  left  the  place  quiet  and  clear. 
Our  chase  had  led  us  into  dangerous  ground,  a  prairie-dog  village, 
so  thickly  settled  that  there  were  three  or  four  holes  in  every 
twenty  yards  square,  occupying  the  whole  bottom  for  nearly  two 
miles  in  length." 

While  Gen.  Fremont  was  making  his  second  attack  on  the  herd 
Carson  left  the  buffalo  which  he  had  killed  and  partly  cut  up  to 
pursue  a  large  bull  that  came  rushing  by  him  alone.  He  chased 
the  game  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  not  being  able  to  gain 
rapidly  owing  to  the  blown  condition  of  his  horse.  Coming  up 
at  length  to  the  side  of  the  fleeing  buffalo  Carson  fired,  but  at  the 
same  instant  his  horse  stepped  into  a  prairie-dog  hole,  going 


LIFE   OF   KIT   CARSON.  337 

down  and  throwing  Kit  over  his  head  fully  fifteen  feet.  The 
bullet  struck  the  buffalo  low  under  the  shoulder,  which  only 
served  to  so  enrage  him  that  the  next  moment  the  infuriated  an- 
imal was  pursuing  Kit,  who,  fortunately  not  much  hurt,  was  able 
to  run  toward  the  river.  It  was  a  race  for  life  now,  Carson 
using  his  nimble  heels  to  the  utmost  of  their  capacity,  accelerated 
very  much  by  the  thundering,-  bellowing  bull  bringing  up  the 
rear.  For  several  minutes  it  was  nip  and  tuck  which  should 
reach  the  Piatte  River  first,  but  Kit  got  there  by  a  scratch  a  little 
in  advance.  It  was  a  big  stream,  and  deep  water  under  the  bank, 
but  heavens !  it  was  paradise  indeed  compared  with  the  hades 
plunging  at  his  back,  so  Kit  leaped  into  the  water,  trusting  to 
providence  that  the  bull  would  not  follow.  The  trust  was  well 
placed  for  the  bull  did  not  continue  the  pursuit,  but  stood  on  the 
bank  and  shook  his  fists  —  head  —  vehemently  at  the  struggling 
hunter,  who  preferred  deep  waves  to  the  horns  of  a  dilemma  on 
shore. 

Kit  swam  around  for  some  time,  carefully  guarded  by  the  bull, 
until  his  position  was  observed  by  Maxwell,  who  attacked  the 
belligerent  animal  successfully  with  a  No.  44  slug,  and  then  Kit 
crawled  out  and  —  skinned  the  enemy. 

CARSON   ACTS   AS    GUIDE    TO   FREMONT'S    SECOND    EXPEDITION. 

Carson  continued  with  Fremont  until  the  expedition  reached 
Laramie,  after  Fremont's  ascent  to  the  summit  of  the  loftiest 
peak  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  range.  Upon  leaving  the  expe- 
dition Carson  returned  to  New  Mexico,  where,  in  1843,  he  con- 
tracted a  second  marriage,  espousing  a  Mexican  lady,  with  whom 
he  lived  happily  for  many  years,  and  who  gave  him  two  children, 
a  boy  and  a  girl,  the  former,  Kit  Carson,  Jr.,  reaching  manhood, 
but  the  daughter  died  while  young. 

Carson  engaged  his  services  again  to  Bent  &  St.  Vrain,  for 
whom  he  hunted  and  acted  as  courier,  until,  learning  that  Fre- 
mont had  started  out  on  a  second  expedition  of  exploration,  and 
was  within  two  days'  journey  of  Fort  Bent,  he  decided  to  visit 
him.  When  Carson  came  into  General  —  then  Lieutenant  — 

22 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


Fremont's  presence,   the  latter,  after  greeting  him  with  gre^t 
warmth,  said:  — 


"  Carson,  you  are  the  man,  of  all  others,  I  am  most  delighted 
to  see.     If  I  had  known  your  address  I  should  certainly  have 


LIFE    OF   KIT   CARSON'  539 

communicated  my  desire  to  have  you  accompany  me  on  the  pres- 
ent expedition ;  but  since  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  meet  you  at  my 
camp,  your  services,  I  trust,  will  be  given  me." 

Carson  had  not  thought  of  accompanying  Fremont,  but  being 
offered  a  good  salary,  he  gave  his  consent.  First  returning  to 
Fort  Benton  for  a  number  of  mules,  which  Fremont  required,  he 
came  back  to  the  rendezvous,  after  which,  heading  the  cavalcade, 
the  expedition  moved  westward  for  the  Sacramento  Valley. 

On  the  21st  of  August,  1844,  the  party  of  hardy  adventurers 
reached  Bear  River,  and  descending  that  stream  twenty  miles, 
they  came  upon  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  which  Fremont,  in  com^ 
pany  with  Carson  and  two  other  members  of  the  expedition,  cir- 
cumnavigated in  their  rubber  boat.  From  this  point  the  journey 
was  continued  until  Nez  Perce  was  reached,  which  was  a  trading 
post  established  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Fur  Company  in  Northern 
California.  This  was  the  western  limit  or  Fremont's  journey, 
as  at  this  point  a  connection  was  made  with  Commander  Wilkes, 
who  had  completed  the  survey  eastward  from  San  Francisco. 

After  a  rest  of  several  days,  Fremont  sent  Carson  to  the 
Dalles,  with  instructions  to  prepare  a  number  of  pack-saddles, 
blankets,  provisions  and  other  things  needful  for  a  long  expedi- 
tion during  the  winter,  having  determined  to  start  back  upon  his 
return  journey  at  once.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  was 
now  almost  midwinter,  the  bold  explorer  had  decided  to  pass 
through  a  new  section  of  country,  thereby  adding  to  his  discov- 
eries upon  the  return.  He  therefore  chose  a  route  which  would 
take  him,  first,  to  Tlamath  Lake,  and  from  there  by  a  southeast 
course  to  the  Great  Basin ;  thence  t<  >  tuc  Buenaventura  River, 
and  from  thence  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  at  the  headwaters  of 
the  Arkansas,  and  then  strike  Bent's  Fort,  from  which  place  the 
government  trail  would  be  taken  for  St.  Louis. 

This  projected  route  for  the  return  journey,  cr  at  least  a 
greater  portion  of  it,  was  practically  terra  incognita  to  white 
men,  and  therefore  concealed  obstacles  which  put  to  the  severest 
test  man's  powers  of  endurance. 

The  entire  party  consisted  of  twenty-five  persons,  comprising 


340  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

six  distinct  nationalities,  several  of  them  being  under  age,  one 
of  whom,  a  son  of  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton,  was  only  a  lad. 
But  provision  having  been  made,  the  journey  was  begun  about 
the  latter  part  of  December  with  light  hearts  and  joyous  antici- 
pations. Two  In^an  guides  were  engaged  at  Vancouver's  to 
conduct  the  p^-ty  through  to  Tlamath  Lake,  which  proved  to  be 
only  a  shallow  basin  containing  a  little  water  when  the  snows 
were  melting  during  spring  time.  From  this  place  they  started 
for  Mary's  Lake  without  any  guide  save  the  compasses  they  car- 
ried. This  journey  brought  them  into  a  land  of  desolation,  in 
which  several  perished  from  cold  and  starvation,  their  pack  ani- 
mals were  lost,  and  progress  was  made  only  by  carving  a  highway 
through  snow  often  twenty  feet  in  depth.  But  as  Gen.  Fremont 
has  himself  often  graphically  described  the  perils  and  terrible 
hardships  of  this  expedition  while  searching  for  Mary's  Lake 
and  Buenaventura  River,  it  is  useless  to  repeat  the  incidents  of 
the  expedition  here. 

Fort  Sutter  was  not  reached  until  the  6th  of  March,  at  which 
time  the  horses  belonging  to  the  expedition  had  been  reduced 
from  sixty-seven  to  thirty- three,  from  which,  and  considering 
the  men  who  died  and  were  lost,  the  terrible,  almost  unparalleled 
sufferings  of  the  men  in  this  unfortunate  expedition  may  be  ap- 
proximated by  the  reader.  Those  of  the  party  who  reached  Sut- 
ter were  so  reduced  by  privations  they  had  suffered  on  the  dreary 
route  that  each  man  was  little  more  than  an  animate  skeleton  of 
skin  and  bone,  and  their  horses  were  so  poor  and  weak  that  not 
one  could  bear  the  burden  of  a  rider,  so  that  they  had  to  be 
led. 

An  abundant  store  of  good  provisions  was  set  before  the  fam- 
ished party  that  while  proving  a  blessing  to  all  was  not  without 
its  dangers'.  The  men  had  been  so  long  without  food  that  it 
was  impossible  to  restrain  their  appetites  even  by  warnings 
against  filling  their  empty  stomachs  with  strong  meats.  The  men 
ate  ravenously,  and  when  the  feasting  was  concluded  two  of  the 
party  became  raving  maniacs,  from  their  inordinate  indulgence. 
This  necessitated  a  stay  at  the  fort  for  a  considerable  time,  for 


LIFE    OF    KIT    CARSON. 


341 


all  were  sick  and  the  two  most  unfortunate  required  the  closest 
watching  for  nearly  two  weeks  before  their  reason  was  restored. 

A  THRILLING  INCIDENT   ON  THE  RETURN  TRIP. 

Four  days  after  Fremont's  party  had  started  from  Fort  Sut- 
ter,  on  their  return,  and  while  going  into  camp  for  the  night, 
they  were  surprised  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  two  men  ap- 
proaching over  the  crest  of  a  hill  evidently  making  for  the 
camp.  Such  a  sight,  in  a  country  so  barren,  and  beset  with  so 
many  dangers,  was  well  calculated  to  excite  wonder  and  Carson, 
was  immediately  upon  the  alert  to  discover  what  new  adventure 
was  thus  promised.  The  two  strangers  came  on  in  great  haste 
until  they  reached  the  | 
camp,  when  exhausted 
by  their  exertions  in 
running,  they  fell  in  a 
faint,  and  were  unable  | 
for  some  time  to  utter 
a  word.  Their  breath 
being  at  length  re- 
covered they  related  in 
a  manner  that  showed 
their  extreme  agita- 
tion the  particulars  CAPTURE  OF  THE  TWO  MEXICAN  WOMEN. 

of  a  calamity  that  had  befallen  them  on  the  day  before.  The 
two  strangers  proved  to  be  Mexicans  who  had  by  rare  good 
fortune  made  their  escape  from  a  band  of  Indians  that  had 
attacked  and  killed  two  of  their  companions  and  carried  away  as 
captives  the  wife  and  mother  of  the  speakers.  They  implored 
the  help  of  some  of  Fremont's  men  to  aid  them  in  recovering 
the  women  and  horses  that  had  been  thus  stolen. 

Appeals,  such  as  the  Mexicans  made,  always  found  a  ready 
response  in  Carson's  heart  and  in  a  few  minutes  he  was  mounted 
and  ready  to  enter  upon  a  pursuit  after  the  marauders.  Another 
man  of  Fremont's  party  named  Godey  volunteered  to  accom- 
pany him  and  together  they  set  out  at  once  with  one  of  the  two 
Mexicans  as  guide.  After  traveling  at  great  speed  all  night 


342  8TORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

they  came  upon  the  Indian  trail,  but  before  they  had  followed  it 
many  miles  the  Mexican's  horse  gave  out  and  he  was  left  behind. 
Carson  and  Godey  continued  on  in  hot  pursuit  but,  unable  to 
come  up  with  the  Indians  after  a  hard  day's  ride  they  went, 
into  camp  on  the  second  night  to  refresh  themselves  and  their 
horses.  Early  the  following  morning  they  again  mounted 
and  pressed  on,  but  before  going  a  mile  further  they  discovered 
smoke  rising  above  the  trees  that  lined  a  small  ravine,  which  ad- 
monished them  to  pause  and  reconnoiter.  Crawling  carefully  to 
the  summit  of  a  knoll  which  was  covered  with  grass  and  a  thick 
growth  of  artemisia,  but  which  commanded  a  view  of  the  ravine 
below,  they  discovered  a  band  of  thirty  Indians  making  a  break- 
fast off  horse-flesh.  Towards  the  right,  about  one  hundred 
yards  from  the  camp,  were  nearly  forty  horses,  all  picketed,  and 
grazing  in  a  close  body.  Carson  and  Godey  now  turned  towards 
the  horses,  hoping  to  be  able  to  draw  the  pickets  and  then  stam- 
pede the  animals,  which  would  have  left  the  Indians  unmounted 
and  no  means  for  pursuit,  thus  placing  them  practically  at  Car- 
son's mercy.  But  before  the  horses  could  be  reached,  a  colt 
sprang  out  from  a  thicket  where  it  had  been  concealed,  and  ran 
whinnying  towards  the  herd.  This  alarmed  the  horses  and  in 
turn  the  Indians  became  apprised  of  the  presence  of  some  bold 
intruder.  In  another  moment  there  was  a  commotion  in  the  camp 
and  every  Indian  seized  his  weapon  and  prepared  to  meet  any 
danger.  Carson  and  Godey  were  still  in  the  grass  but  they  knew 
their  position  must  soon  be  discovered,  in  which  event  their  fate 
could  not  long  be  averted.  In  moments  of  extreme  peril,  self- 
possession  and  the  courage  to  act  with  decision  are  the  surest 
aids  to  preservation.  It  was  the  possession  of  these  traits  of 
character  that  distinguished  Carson  in  his  long,  adventurous  and 
successful  career  as  a  plainsman  and  which  secured  his  safety 
in  the  dangerous  situation  he  now  found  himself.  Understanding 
thoroughly  the  Indians'  cowardice  in  the  presence  of  a  concealed 
enemy,  Carson  and  his  companion  opened  fire  upon  the  excited 
savages,  and  with  such  excellent  aim  that  two  were  instantly 
killed.  As  the  great  scout  had  foreseen,  the  Indians  were  so 


LIFE    OF    KIT    CARSON.  343 

surprised  at  the  sudden  attack  that  they  at  once  concluded  the 
attacking  party  was  only  the  advance  guard  of  a  large  one  which 
was  about  to  surround  them,  and  like  a  pack  of  scared  coyotes 
they  fled  in  such  haste  and  terror  that  several  of  the  horses  ai^ 
all  of  their  camping  outfit  were  abandoned. 

When  the  Indians  had  made  good  their  escape,  Carson  and 
Godey  returned  to  their  horses  and  then  rode  back  to  the  camp 
where  they  witnessed  a  sight  well  calculated  to  excite  a  desire 
for  vengeance.  Beside  a  burning  log  were  the  bodies  of  two 
white  men  each  pierced  with  a  score  of  arrows  and  horribly  mu- 
tilated, while  ten  yards  away  were  the  naked  bodies  of  the  two 
Mexican  women,  through  each  of  which  a  large  stake  had  been 
driven  pinning  them  to  the  ground.  That  these  horrible  atroc- 
ities had  been  perpetrated  on  the  victims  while  alive  was  evident 
from  the  look  of  agony  that  was  on  the  face  of  each;  nor  were 
these  cruelties  all  that  the  four  unfortunates  suffered  before 
death  came  to  their  relief,  for  their  persons  had  been  subjected 
to  indignities  not  to  be  described  in  print. 

Carson  and  Godey  interred  the  bodies  as  best  they  could  and 
then  taking  the  horses  that  had  been  abandoned,  made  their  way 
back  to  the  camp  of  their  companions.  The  two  Mexicans  were 
there  awaiting  the  result  of  the  pursuit,  and  when  they  learned 
of  the  fearful  fate  that  had  befallen  the  women  their  grief  was 
really  pitiful  to  see.  They  refused  every  offer  of  assistance,  or 
to  accompany  the  expedition,  but  sat  down  beside  the  camp-fire 
where  they  were  left  by  Fremont's  party,  giving  expression  to 
their  sorrow  in  hysterical  exclamations,  nor  did  Carson  ever  after- 
wards hear  anything  concerning  them,  though  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  they  perished  from  some  of  the  many  dangers  that 
surrounded  them. 


344 


STORY   OP  THE   WILD   WEST, 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  WAR  IN   CALIFORNIA. 

ETURNING  again  to  Taos  after  the  sec- 
ond expedition  disbanded,  Carson  cast 
about  for  several  months  in  quest  of 
some  employment.  Nothing  better 
offering,  in  the  spring  of  1845  he  en- 
tered into  partnership  with  a  man 
named  Owen  and  started  a  sheep-ranch. 
The  two  were  old  acquaintances,  having 
served  together  in  both  of  Fremont's 
expeditions,  and  it  is  not  strange  to 
find  that  they  were  both  much  better 
content  when  following  a  life  of  wild 
adventure  than  in  the  calm  tranquillity  and  uneventful  occupa- 
tion they  had  now  chosen.  Therefore  when  Fremont  projected 
a  third  expedition  and  again  called  for  Carson's  services,  the 
sheep-ranch  was  disposed  of  at  a  reckless  sacrifice  and  the  two 
made  all  possible  haste  to  join  their  old  commander  at  Bent's  Fort 
on  the  Upper  Arkansas. 

The  journey  of  this  last  expedition  lay  through  the  same 
country  over  which  they  had  passed  previously,  but  while  there 
was  no  lack  of  suffering  on  this  trip  the  party  experienced  few 
trials  to  be  compared  with  those  met  with  before.  After  reach- 
ing Sutter's  Fort  the  expedition  recruited  and  marched  toward 
Monterey,  but  were  met  en  route  by  Gen.  Castro  at  the  head  of 
four  hundred  Mexicans,  who  opposed  Fremont's  further  progress 
and  ordered  his  immediate  return.  Although  Fremont  had  but 
forty  men,  each  one  had  been  tried  in  the  crucible  of  hard  expe- 
rience and  knew  how  to  meet  any  opposition,  so  by  skillful 
tactics  they  evaded  Castro  and  moved  on  to  Monterey,  where 
there  were  a  number  of  Americans  ready  to  join  them,  appre- 
ciating the  probabilities  of  a  war  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States,  which  was  then  being  prepared  for. 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CAKSON.  345 

Very  soon  after  this  the  war  tocsin  was  sounded,  and  Fremont, 
with  Carson  as  his  first  lieutenant,  was  duly  enlisted  for  the  fray, 
in  which  they  contested  with  commendable  valor  and  made  their 
power  felt  throughout  California. 

A    FIERCE    BATTLE    WITH    INDIANS. 

The  Mexicans,  though  overwhelming  in  numbers,  hesitated  to 
attack  Fremont,  knowing  the  mettle  of  his  small  force,  and 
sought  to  accomplish  the  destruction  of  the  whites  by  instigating 
the  Apache  Indians  to  attack  them,  who  could  marshal  a  large 
army  of  redoubtable  warriors  at  ten  days'  notice,  and  were,  as 
they  are  to-day,  distinguished  for  their  cruelty.  So  well  did  the 
Mexicans  manage  their  Indian  allies,  that  while  Fremont  was  in 
quarters  at  Lawson's  post  word  reached  him  of  the  approach  of 
a  thousand  Apaches  all  well  armed  and  mounted,  determined 
upon  the  destruction  of  every  white  man  in  California.  Law- 
son's  post  was  not  built  with  any  view  of  offering  resistance  to 
an  enemy  ;  in  fact,  being  located  in  a  basin  around  which  were 
towering  hills,  it  presented  an  excellent  target  for  an  investing 
army.  A  council  of  war  was  therefore  speedily  held,  at  which  it 
was  decided  to  abandon  the  post  and  to  march  against  the 
enemy,  and  if  possible,  fall  upon  the  Indians  when  they  were 
least  expecting  an  attack.  These  tactics  had  often  been  employed 
with  success  by  Carson,  and  Fremont  now  placed  him  in  active  com- 
mand of  the  little  force,  though  his  rank  was  that  of  Lieutenant. 

The  company  proceeded  nearly  fifty  miles  before  they  discov- 
ered the  position  of  the  Indians,  but  their  progress  had  been  slow 
in  order  to  save  their  animals  from  fatigue,  appreciating  the 
need  of  fresh  horses  should  the  enemy  be  met  with  by  day  and 
given  time  to  make  a  charge.  Fortune,  however,  favored  the 
explorers  for,  by  keeping  two  scouts  a  mile  or  more  in  advance, 
they  found  the  Indians,  at  the  close  of  a  beautiful  evening,  going 
into  camp,  and  so  indifferent  to  their  surroundings,  least  ex- 
pecting an  attack,  that  they  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to 
adopt  any  precautions  against  surprise. 

Carson  and  Fremont  disposed  their  men  to  the  best  possible 
advantage,  after  a  careful  view  of  the  grounds,  and  about  ten 


346 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 


o'clock,  when  the  camp  was  still  in  slumber,  they  surrounded  the 
sleeping  Indians  and  at  a  signal  put  spurs  to  their  horses  and 
dashed  down  upon  the  unsuspecting  savages,  yelling  and  firing, 
so  that  the  camp  was  thrown  into  the  utmost  confusion,  and 
before  the  Indians  could  discover  the  cause  or  rally,  hundreds  of 
them  were  shot  down  as  they  were  crawling  from  their  tents. 
It  was  a  veritable  riot  of  death  in  which  bloody  slaughter  acted 
as  master  of  ceremonies.  Men  fell  like  leaves  in  autumn,  and 
even  the  squaws  that  had  accompanied  the  war  party  could  not 


SURPRISING    THE    APACHE    CAMP. 

be  respected  in  the  rain  of  bullets  that  rattled  through  the 
raided  camp.  So  sudden  and  impetuous  had  been  the  charge,  and 
so  terrible  was  the  execution  that  the  Indians  were  panic-stricken 
and  with  only  a  faint  show  of  resistance  retreated  in  the  wildest 
confusion,  leaving  their  camp  in  possession  of  the  brave  invaders. 
After  this  decisive  victory,  which  Carson  prophesied  would 
prove  a  lesson  that  the  Indians  would  be  slow  to  forget,  Fremont 
returned  to  Lawson's  post,  where  he  renewed  his  outfit,  and 
then  departed  northward,  with  the  purpose  of  exploring  and 
opening  a  route  to  the  Wahlahmath  settlements  in  Oregon. 


LIFE    OF    KIT    CARSON.  347 

CARSON    DETAILED    TO   ACT    AS    DISPATCH    BEARER. 

While  the  party  was  journeying  northward  they  were  sur- 
prised by  the  appearance  of  two  white  men,  who,  travel-stained 
and  fatigued  to  the  point  of  exhaustion,  approached  after  giving 
signs  that  they  wished  to  make  a  communication.  When  they 
drew  near  Fremont  was  rejoiced  to  find  that  the  two  were  old 
voyageurs  who  had  accompanied  him  on  his  first  expedition. 
They  quickly  told  their  story,  which  was,  to  the  effect  that  they 
were  part  of  a  guard  of  six  men  conducting  Lieutenant  Gillespie, 
of  the  United  States  Marines,  who  had  been  sent  from  Wash- 
ington for  the  Slope,  with  dispatches  for  Fremont.  Hearing 
of  his  presence  in  that  region  these  two  had  been  sent  forward  to 
find  him,  and  if  their  search  proved  successful,  they  were  ordered 
to  report  back  to  the  command  as  socn  as  possible.  All  this  was 
good  news  for  Fremont,  who  decided  to  immediately  return 
with  the  two  guards  and  ten  picked  men,  of  which  Carson  was 
one?  and  meet  the  Lieutenant,  who  was  reported  to  be  in  sore 
distress  for  want  of  provisions. 

Fremont's  party,  guided  by  the  two  voyageurs ,  journeyed 
back  a  distance  of  sixty  miles,  and  was  upon  the  point  of  giving 
the  Lieutenant  over  for  lost,  as  the  Indians  were  very  numerous 
and  hostile  in  that  region  and  would  make  short  work  of  so  small 
a  party  if  able  to  surprise  them,  when  he  discovered  Gillespie' s 
cainp  in  one  of  the  mountain  passes,  where  he  had  remained  for 
three  days  awaiting  succor,  fearing  to  proceed  further  lest  he 
should  be  unable  to  find  so  good  a  shelter  again,  and  believing 
that  the  two  men  sent  out  would  easily  discover  his  position  in  a 
pass  that  was  in  the  highway  to  California.  In  a  letter  written 
>y  Carson  in  June,  1847,  and  published  in  the  Washington 
Union i  the  interview  between  Fremont  and  Gillespie,  as  we!) 
also  some  of  the  exciting  incidents  of  the  return  trip  are  thus 
graphically  described:  — 

A  MASSACRE  BY  THE  INDIANS  AND  CARSON'S  NARROW  ESCAPE. 

"  Mr.  Gillespie  had  brought  the  Colonel  letters  from  home  — 
the  first  he  had  had  sinco  leaving  the  States  the  year  before  — 
and  he  was  up,  and  kept  a  large  fire  burning  until  after  midnight ; 


348  STORY   OF   THE    WILJ)    WEST. 

the  rest  of  us  were  tired  out  and  all  went  to  sleep.  This  was  the 
only  night  in  all  our  travels,  except  the  one  night  on  the  island 
in  the  Salt  Lake,  that  we  failed  to  keep  guard ;  and  as  the  men 
were  so  tired,  and  we  expected  no  attack  now  that  we  had  sixteen 
;n  the  party,  the  Colonel  didn't  like  to  ask  it  of  them,  but  sat 
up  late  himself.  Owens  and  I  were  sleeping  together,  and  we 


—  \ 


CARRYING    AWAY   THE    BODY   OF    THE    TLAMATH    CHIEF 

were  waked  at  the  same  time  by  the  licks  of  the  axe  that  killed 
our  men.  At  first  I  didn't  know  it  was  that,  but  I  called  to 
Basil,  who  was  on  that  side  —  '  What's  the  matter  there  ?  What's 
thut  fuss  about?' — he  never  answered,  for  he  was  dead  then, 
poor  fellow,  and  he  never  knew  what  killed  him — his  head  had 
been  cut  open,  in  his  sleep;  the  other  groaned  a  little  as  he  died. 
The  Delawares  ( \\e  had  four  with  usTi  were  sleeping  at  that  firer 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON. 

and  they  sprang  up  as  the  Tlamaths  charged  them.  One  of 
them  caught  up  a  gun,  which  was  unloaded;  but,  although  he 
could  do  no  execution,  he  kept  them  at  bay,  fighting  like  a  sol- 
dier, and  didn't  give  up  until  he  was  shot  full  of  arrows  —  three 
entering  his  heart ;  he  died  bravely.  As  soon  as  I  had  called  out 
I  saw  it  was  Indians  in  the  camp,  and  I  and  Owens  together  cried 
out  '  Indians.'  There  were  no  orders  given;  things  went  on  too 
fast,  and  the  Colonel  had  men  with  him  that  didn't  need  to  be 
told  their  duty.  The  Colonel  and  I,  Maxwell,  Owens,  Godey 
and  Stepp  jumped  together,  we  six,  and  ran  to  the  assistance  of 
our  Delawares.  I  don't  know  who  fired  and  who  didn't,  but  I 
think  it  was  Stepp' s  shot  that  killed  the  Tlamath  chief,  for  it 
was  at  the  crack  of  Stepp's  gun  that  he  fell.  He  had  an  English 
half -axe  slung  to  his  wrist  by  a  cord,  and  there  were  forty  arrows 
left  in  his  quiver  —  the  most  beautiful  and  warlike  arrows  I  ever 
saw.  He  must  have  been  the  bravest  man  among  them,  from 
the  way  he  was  armed  and  judging  by  his  cap.  When  the  Tla- 
maths saw  him  fall  they  ran;  but  we  lay,  every  man  with  hi» 
rifle  cocked,  until  daylight,  expecting  another  attack. 

"  In  the  morning  we  found  by  the  tracks  that  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  of  the  Tlamaths  had  attacked  us.  They  had  killed  three 
of  our  men  and  wounded  one  of  the  Delawares,  who  scalped  the 
chief,  but  they  prevented  his  body  from  falling  into  our  hands 
by  drawing  it  away  on  a  travoi.  Our  dead  men  we  carried  on 
mules ;  but,  after  going  about  ten  miles,  we  found  it  impossible 
to  get  them  any  farther  through  the  thick  timber,  and  finding  a 
secret  place,  we  buried  them  under  logs  and  chunks,  having  no- 
way to  dig  a  grave.  It  was  only  a  few  days  before  this  fight 
that  some  of  these  same  Indians  had  come  into  our  camp ;  and, 
although  we  had  only  meat  for  two  days,  and  felt  sure  that  we 
should  have  to  eat  mules  for  ten  or  fifteen  days  to  come,  the 
Colonel  divided  with  them,  and  even  had  a  mule  unpacked  to 
give  them  some  tobacco  and  knives." 

CARSON'S  REVENGE. 

The  massacre  so  cruelly  perpetrated  by  the  Tlamath  Indians 
aroused  in  Fremont's  party  an  intense  desire  for  vengeance,  which 
they  were  not  long  in  gratifying.  By  the  dispatches  which  Gil- 
lespie  had  brought  it  was  known  that  war  had  been  declared  with 
Mexico,  and  as  the  Indians  were  then  acting  as  Mexican  allies 
they  were  properly  regarded  as  being  enemies  in  a  double  sense, 
and  fit  subjects  for  extirpation  if  opportunity  offered.  On  the 


350  STORY  OP  THE   WILD   WEST. 

day  following  the  massacre  just  described,  Carson  took  ten  men 
and  passed  around  to  the  opposite  side  of  Tlamath  Lake,  where, 
as  he  had  expected,  he  found  the  Indian  trail,  and  followed  it 
until  he  came  upon  a  village  of  fifty  lodges.  To  his  surprise, 
however,  he  found  that  very  few  warriors  were  in  the  camp,  those 
engaged  in  the  massacre  evidently  having  not  yet  returned.  Re- 
garding his  force,  therefore,  sufficiently  strong  for  the  enterprise, 
he  ordered  a  charge  upon  the  encampment,  and  rushed  down  upon 
the  surprised  Indians  with  whoop  and  yell  that  threw  them  into 
the  greatest  confusion.  Three  or  four  warriors  returned  the  fire 
of  Carson's  party  but  without  effect,  and  in  a  trice  the  camp  was 
carried  and  its  puny  defenders  sent  flying  in  panic  across  the 
prairie,  pursued  by  Carson's  men  and  shot  down  with  the  same 
measure  of  mercy  as  that  meted  out  to  their  murdered  com- 
rades. 

When  Carson  grew  tired  of  the  pursuit  and  slaughter,  he  re- 
turned to  the  deserted  village,  and  gathering  into  one  pile  all  the 
fcents  and  their  contents,  set  fire  to  the  whole  and  consumed  every 
vestige  of  the  camp. 

CARSON'S  DUEL  WITH  AN  INDIAN. 

On  the  day  following  this  rout  of  the  Indians  Fremont's  party 
set  out  on  a  journey  to  the  Sacramento  Valley,  where  their  serv- 
ices would  most  likely  be  needed  in  the  war  that  had  just  been 
declared.  Nothing  of  special  interest  occurred  on  this  march 
until  the  fourth  day,  when  a  war  party  of  Tiamath  Indians  rushed 
out  upon  the  band  of  explorers  from  a  canon  in  which  they  had 
laid  concealed,  but  though  they  charged  with  much  valor  Fre- 
mont's men  were  prepared  for  them,  and  after  counter-chargii 
dispersed  the  Indians  with  small  loss.  Although  the  main  bodj 
made  a  precipitate  retreat,  one  of  the  Indians  boldly  disputed  th( 
ground  with  all  of  Fremont's  party.  His  bravery  was  so  con- 
spicuous that  Carson  would  gladly  have  spared  the  warrior's  life, 
so  chivalric  was  his  regard  for  the  truly  heroic,  under  whatever 
mask  of  nature  it  might  be  displayed.  But  the  Indian  disdaim 
the  offer  of  a  truce,  having  apparently  some  mortal  offei 
against  the  whites  to  avenge,  and  continued  to  advance  and 


LIFE  OP  KIT   CARSON.  351 

charge  his  bow  with  marvelous  precision.  Seeing  him  so  de- 
termined upon  a  contest  Carson  resolved  to  give  him  an  equal 
chance  for  his  life ;  bidding  his  comrades  to  retire  a  pace  Carson 
rode  forward  to  engage  the  Indian  in  a  duel,  where  arrow  and 
rifle  should  be  brought  in  conflict.  Perceiving  his  enemy's  in- 
tention the  Indian  sought  the  cover  of  a  tree,  from  which  pro- 
tecting shelter  he  sent  several  arrows  in  dangerous  proximity  to 
his  adversary,  some  of  them  lodging  in  his  saddle.  Without  a 
sign  of  fear  Carson  continued  to  manoeuver  for  some  time  until 
at  length  the  Indian,  in  his  daring,  exposed  a  part  of  his  body 
through  which  Carson  quickly  sent  a  bullet  with  unerring  precis- 
ion. Having  killed  his  brave  and  dextrous  enemy,  Carson  leaped 
from  his  horse  and  divested  the  body  of  its  rich  ornaments,  in- 
cluding the  bow  and  quiver  still  half  filled  with  beautiful  arrows 
headed  with  polished  jade,  and  presented  the  fighting  outfit  to 
Lieutenant  Gillespie,  as  a  memento  of  the  march  through  that 
dangerous  country. 

HOSTILITIES    BEGUN  WITH  THE   MEXICANS. 

The  party  now  resumed  their  journey  without  further  interrup- 
tion until  they  returned  to  Lawson's  post.  Here  they  remained 
for  a  week  and  then  moved  down  the  Sacramento  where  they 
again  went  into  camp  to  await  developments  and  discover,  if  pos- 
sible, the  plans  of  the  Mexicans.  Another  week  of  inaction 
passed,  when  Fremont  decided  to  begin  hostilities  by  an  aggressive 
movement  against  the  Mexican  garrison  at  Sonoma.  The  place  was 
accordingly  attacked  and  carried  after  a  brief  contest,  in  which  the 
losses  on  either  side  were  inconsiderable.  The  victory,  however, 
was  an  important  one,  since  among  the  prisoners  taken  was  General 
Vallejos,  besides  a  considerable  store  of  ammunition  and  three 
cannons.  After  the  reduction  of  Sonoma  Fremont  rallied  to  his 
standard  all  the  Americans  of  that  section  and  marched  against  a 
force  of  eight  hundred  Mexicans  sent  out  by  General  Castro 
from  San  Francisco,  with  the  declared  purpose  of  exterminating 
every  American  in  California.  Instead,  however,  of  carrying 
this  boastful  enterprise  into  execution  the  Mexicans,  upon  learn- 
ing of  Fremont's  advance,  retreated  with  precipitation,  and  suf- 


352  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

fered  themselves  to  be  pursued  for  six  days  without  once  offering 
an  engagement.  Fremont  followed  at  the  flying  heels  of  the 
enemy  almost  to  Los  Angeles,  and  then  returned  to  Sonoma, 
which  he  garrisoned  with  a  company  of  new  recruits,  after  which 
he  pushed  on  to  S  utter 's  fort  where  he  left  his  prisoners  and 
put  the  place  in  an  excellent  state  of  defense. 

His  operations  against  the  Mexicans  had  been  so  successful  that 
Americans  from  the  several  quarters  of  California  joined  him, 
augmenting  his  force  to  nearly  one  thousand  men.  At  the  head 
of  this  considerable  army  he  set  out  to  lay  siege  to  Monterey,  but 
upon  arrival  before  that  port  he  found  his  purpose  had  been  an- 
ticipated by  Commodore  Sloat,  who  had  taken  the  place  several 
days  before  and  before  it  had  anchored  the  American  squadron. 
Colonel  Fremont  made  due  report  to  Commodore  Stockton,  as  his 
superior  officer,  of  his  operations  against  the  Mexicans,  and  made 
a  tender  of  the  standard  he  had  adopted  upon  declaring  the  inde- 
pendence of  California,  after  his  capture  of  Sonoma.  This  flag, 
used  only  a  few  weeks,  was  composed  of  red  and  white,  with  the 
figure  of  a  bear  in  the  center,  from  whence  it  became  known  as 
the  "Bear  Flag."  During  its  brief  service  as  an  emblem  of 
California  independence  it  inspired  an  enthusiasm  that  has 
rarely  been  equaled  by  any  banner  in  all  history. 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON. 


353 


CHAPTER     VL 
CARSON'S   SERVICE  AS  A  SCOUT  AND  GUIDE. 

EARLY  all  Fremont's  force  was 
now  composed  of  hardy  adven- 
turers, who  had  drifted  to  Cali- 
fornia in  early  years,  attracted 
either  by  the  trade  that  had  been 
created  by  the  several  missions 
that  had  been  established  along  the 
coast,  or  by  a  roving  desire  such  as 
leads  men  into  every  habitable  sec- 
tion of  the  globe.  But  the  charac- 
ter of  these  adventurers  was  of  the 
quality  that  easily  develops  heroes, 
being  inured  to  hardships  and 
possessing  stout  hearts  ready  for 
any  enterprise,  and  destitute  of  the  effeminate  element  of  fear. 
At  the  head  of  two  hundred  such  men  Fremont  had  no  hesitancy 
in  undertaking  to  drive  -his  way  into  the  enemy's  country,  and 
accordingly  he  set  out  resolved  upon  the  capture  of  Los  Angeles 
and  the  cowardly  Castro,  who  had  escaped  him,  as  has  just  been 
described.  Commodore  Stockton  promised  to  act  in  conjunction 
with  Fremont  so  as  to  make  a  combined  attack  upon  the  place, 
but  after  all  their  preparations  and  lofty  expectations  of  an  excit- 
ing battle  they  were  doomed  to  disappointment.  By  some  means 
General  Castro  learned  of  the  intended  attack  on  Los  Angeles, 
and  though  his  force  was  double  that  which  Fremont  and  Stock- 
ton were  able  to  bring  against  him,  he  evacuated  the  place  and 
suffered  it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  without  a 
struggle 

California  was  now  practically  free  from  Mexican  rule,  the 
war  having  been  so  vigorously  prosecuted  by  Fremont  that  his 
operations  had  hardly  been  disputed.  He  returned  now  to 


354  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Monterey  and  was  appointed  Governor  of  California  by  Commo- 
dore Stockton,  with  headquarters  at  that  place,  where  long  be- 
fore the  capital  had  been  established.  The  Commodore  set  sail 
for  San  Diego,  and  thus  leaving  Southern  California  unprotected, 
General  Castro  re-occupied  Los  Angeles. 

In  the  meantime,  Kit  Carson,  at  the  head  of  fifteen  men,  was 
sent  on  the  long  and  perilous  journey  across  the  continent  to 
Washington,  with  reports  of  the  military  operations  of  Stockton 
ns  commandant  of  the  squadron  and  of  Fremont  as  leader  of  the 
land  forces.  It  was  necessary  that  the  trip  should  be  made  with 
all  possible  expedition,  for  which  reason  Carson  was  chosen  ta 
undertake  it,  as  his  knowledge  of  the  country  and  peculiar  fitness 
in  a  hundred  ways  pointed  him  out  as  the  most  competent  man 
for  such  a  dangerous  duty 

The  little  party  set  out  in  good  spirits  and  traveled  without 
interruption  until  they  reached  the  line  of  New  Mexico,  where 
they  were  intercepted  by  a  large  band  of  Apaches.  Carson  had 
been  so  long  among  these  Indians  that  he  spoke  their  language 
sufficiently  well  to  make  himself  understood,  and  this  accom- 
plishment he  now  used  to  excellent  advantage.  Eequesting,  by 
signs,  a  parley,  he  met  the  chief  and  explained  to  him  the  peace- 
ful motive  of  his  journey,  at  the  same  time  offering  to  barter 
some  of  the  trinkets  he  brought  along  for  such  provisions  as  the 
Indians  might  be  able  to  spare.  So  well  did  Carson  ingratiate 
himself  into  the  chief's  favor  that  he  not  only  secured  immunity 
from  molestation,  but  obtained  a  supply  of  buffalo  meat  of  which 
his  half-starved  party  stood  sorely  in  need. 

MEETING   WITH    GENERAL   KEARNEY. 

The  party  now  continued  on  their  march,  meeting  with  no 
further  adventure  until  they  reached  the  vicinity  of  Taos.  As 
Carson's  family  lived  in  this  place,  his  anxiety  was  greatly  in- 
creased in  the  expectation  of  seeing  his  wife  and  children,  from 
whom  he  had  been  a  year  separated.  But  when  within  about 
twenty  miles  of  the  town,  which  he  expected  to  reach  on  the 
following  day,  Carson  met  an  expedition  under  the  command  of 


LIFE   OF   KIT    CARSON.  355 

General  Stephen  W.  Kearney,  who  was  hurrying  to  the  aid  of 
Fremont  and  Stockton,  and  bearing  orders  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment at  Washington.  This  expedition  consisted  of  three  hundred 
dragoons,  well  mounted,  and  ten  wagons  loaded  with  provisiona 
for  a  sixty-five  days'  journey.  To  General  Kearney  Carson  de- 
livered one  of  his  dispatches,  which  read  as  follows:  — 

"  The  Pacific  Squadron,  in  command  of  Commodore  Stockton, 
has  taken  possession  of  California,  and  the  American  flag  is  now 
proudly  streaming  above  the  walls  of  Monterey,  the  capital  of 
the  country.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Fremont  was  on  the  Rio  Sac- 
ramento when  the  squadron  arrived  off  the  coast,  and  was  not 
present  when  the  capital  surrendered.  Five  men  of  war  were 
anchored  in  the  bay  when  the  express  left  Monterey.  The  in- 
habitants submitted  with  a  struggle.  Colonel  Fremont  has  been 
appointed  Governor  of  California." 

In  addition  to  this  dispatch  were  several  sealed  messages,  the 
contents  of  which  Carson  did  not  himself  know,  and  it  was  im- 
portant that  these  should  be  transmitted  with  all  possible  celerity. 
But  when  Carson  desired  to  resume  his  journey  towards  Wash- 
ington General  Kearney  detained  him  and  said:  "  Lieutenant, 
you  have  just  passed  over  the  route  which  we  must  pursue  in 
order  to  reach  California,  and  since  you  are  so  perfectly  familiar 
with  the  trail  and  country  as  well,  I  should  be  very  glad  to  have 
you  return  with  us  and  act  as  guide." 

To  this  request  Carson  replied  by  informing  the  General  that 
he  had  pledged  himself  to  see  that  the  messages  which  he  bore 
were  promptly  delivered  to  the  proper  officials  in  Washington, 
ind  that  he  would  not  neglect  to  fulfill  that  promise.  General 
Kearney,  unwilling  to  entrust  himself  to  the  dangers  of  the  wild- 
erness that  lay  between  him  and  California  without  a  competent 
guide,  thus  answered  Carson's  excuse  for  refusing  to  accompany 
him.  Said  he:  "I  will  relieve  you  of  all  responsibility  by  en- 
trusting the  messages  to  a  reliable  person  who  will  carry  them 
safely  and  speedily,  and  in  the  event  of  their  miscarriage  I  will 
assume  all  the  blame."  As  Kearney  had  been  promoted  to  the 
position  of  Brigadier- General,  and  thus  outranked  all  land  officers 
at  that  time  in  California,  Carson  considered  his  request  and 


356  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

guarantee  as  equivalent  to  an  order,  and  consented  to  pilot  the 
expedition  to  California.  In  engaging  to  return  he  was  forced 
to  abandon  the  hope  of  a  speedy  meeting  with  his  family,  for 
the  army  was  then  on  the  march  under  orders  to  push  forward 
as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  delay  was  not  permitted.  This  fact 
caused  Carson  much  regret  and  came  near  deciding  him  to  give 
up  his  expressed  intention ,  and  he  would  have  done  so  but  for 
the  persistent  persuasion  of  General  Kearney.  However,  he  did 
act  as  guide  to  the  expedition  and  piloted  it  safely  through  to 
Monterey,  while  the  dispatches  he  had  been  entrusted  with  were 
given  to  Fitzpatrick,  Kearney's  guide  to  Santa  Fe,  and  by  him 
were  carried  to  Ft.  Leavenworth,  from  whence  they  were  trans- 
mitted-to  Washington  by  the  regular  mails. 

A   TERRIBLE    SITUATION   AND   HOW    CARSON    RELIEVED    IT. 

When  Kearney  reached  California,  in  December,  he  found 
that  all  the  advantages  which  the  Americans  had  gained  during 
the  preceding  summer  had  been  lost  by  neglect  to  garrison  the 
places  that  had  been  captured,  or  to  take  any  means  for  keeping 
the  Mexicans  without  the  territorial  boundary.  Los  Angeles  and 
all  Lower  California  had  been  re-occupied,  while  the  Mexicans 
were  in  force  almost  as  far  north  as  Sonoma.  Hostilities  were 
therefore  renewed  after  Kearney  had  taken  command  of  all  the 
land  forces  within  California  and  issued  his  orders  for  an  ad- 
vance. Fremont  quickly  responded  to  the  call  and  took  the  field 
with  a  company  of  fifty  men,  of  which  Carson  acted  as  first  lieu- 
tenant. They  promptly  marched  south  and  began  maneuvering 
in  the  vicinity  of  San  Diego,  which  was,  of  all  the  southern  ports, 
the  only  one  now  held  by  the  Americans.  Having  just  pene- 
trated the  country,  after  a  long  absence,  they  were  not  informed 
of  the  strength  of  the  Mexicans  in  that  region,  and  before  they 
became  aware  of  any  threatened  danger,  or  the  proximity  of  any 
considerable  force  of  the  enemy,  they  suddenly  found  themselves 
surrounded  by  a  large  army  and  their  retreat  completely  cut  off. 
The  Americans  managed,  however,  to  reach  a  clump  of  timber, 
where  they  hastily  entrenched  themselves  and  resisted  the  attack 


LIFE   OF    KIT    CARSON. 


357 


that  soon  followed  until  all  hope  of  escape  from  utter  annihilation 
seemed  exhausted.     For  six  hours  the  brave  little  band  fought 


with  coolness  but  desperation,  in  which  time  they  had  killed  of 
the  enemy  more  than  double  their  own  number.     Their  several 


358  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

assaults  having  been  repulsed  with  great  loss,  the  Mexicans  and 
a  war  party  of  Apache  allies  settled  down  to  a  siege,  first  invest- 
ing the  Americans  with  an  almost  solid  cordon  of  soldiers,  and 
hoping  to  starve  them  out,  or  by  some  strategy  induce  them  to 
attempt  a  retreat. 

When  night  approached,  fully  appreciating  their  desperate 
situation,  Carson  addressed  the  men,  declaring  that  the  only  con- 
ceivable means  for  their  escape  lay  in  the  possibility  of  com- 
municating with  the  forces  at  San  Diego  and  securing  their 
assistance.  But  this  plan  seemed  anything  but  feasible,  as  the 
Mexicans  had  established  a  complete  cordon  around  the  American 
squad  and  any  attempt  to  break  through  the  lines  would  certainly 
be  detected.  After  counseling  with  the  men  for  some  time  on 
the  hopelessness  of  their  situation,  Carson  volunteered  to  make 
an  attempt  at  establishing  communication  with  San  Diego,  and 
in  this  effort  Lieutenant  Beale  offered  to  accompany  him.  The 
two  therefore  started  out  at  midnight,  and  crawling  on  their 
hands  and  knees,  they  approached  the  first  line  of  guards  without 
detection.  Their  shoes  were  then  removed  to  prevent  noise,  and 
again  they  resumed  their  perilous  progress,  over  rocks  and 
through  briars,  each  step  lacerating  their  feet,  and  the  breaking 
of  each  twig  exciting  the  gravest  fears  of  discovery.  But  the 
outlying  posts  were  passed,  and  then  they  made  all  possible 
haste  for  San  Diego,  which  was  reached  shortly  after  daylight. 
The  sufferings  of  this  journey  were  so  acute  that  Lieutenant  Beale 
was  for  several  days  deranged  from  the  effects  and  did  not  re- 
cover his  usual  physical  health  until  two  years  had  elapsed. 
Carson's  feet  were  so  badly  torn  and  bruised  that  for  a  time 
amputation  seemed  necessary,  and  he  was  unable  to  walk  again 
for  nearly  two  months.  But  the  object  of  their  mission  was  ac- 
complished, Commodore  Stockton  sending  relief  forward,  which 
arrived  barely  in  time  to  save  the  Americans  from  massacre. 

RECAPTURE    OF    LOS    ANGELES. 

The  United  States  forces  at  San  Diego  were  not  in  condition 
to  again  take  the  field  until  a  number  of  weeks  had  elapsed, 


LIFE   OF  KIT   CARSON.  359 

when  a  command  of  six  hundred  men  was  organized  for  the  pur- 
pose of  again  capturing  Los  Angeles,  where  the  Mexican  forces 
were  concentrated.  General  Kearney  and  Commodore  Stockton, 
operating  in  conjunction,  after  a  two  days  march  arrived  within 
fifteen  miles  of  the  town,  near  where  the  Mexican  army,  to  the 
number  of  seven  hundred,  had  established  themselves  strongly 
upon  a  hill  beside  their  camp,  and  between  whom  and  the 
Americans  flowed  a  stream  of  water. 

General  Kearney  ordered  two  pieces  of  artillery  planted  where 
they  would  rake  the  position  of  the  Mexicans,  which  soon  forced 
them  to  break  up  their  camp ;  the  Americans  then  marched  into 
the  town,  but  only  to  find  it  destitute  of  any  military  control,  as 
the  Mexican  army  had  gone  northward  to  meet  Col.  Fremont, 
who  had  left  Monterey  with  a  force  of  f our  hundred  Americans 
to  come  to  Los  Angeles. 

The  purpose  of  the  Mexicans  in  abandoning  Los  Angeles  and 
departing  northward  to  meet  Fremont  was  not  a  hostile  one,  for 
realizing  now  the  futility  of  further  efforts  to  subjugate  the 
Americans  in  California,  and  conceiving  a  bitter  personal  hatred 
to  General  Kearney,  to  avoid  falling  captive  to  him  they  deter- 
mined to  give  the  honor,  whatever  it  might  be,  to  Col.  Fremont, 
for  whom,  even  as  enemies,  they  entertained  much  respect. 
Accordingly,  the  Mexican  army  of  seven  hundred  men  met 
Fremont  some  distance  north  of  Los  Angeles,  and  to  him  surren- 
dered themselves  as  prisoners  of  war.  This  act  was  the  virtual 
closing  of  hostilities,  and  the  whole  country  in  dispute,  that  had 
long  been  under  Mexican  authority,  came  into  possession  at" 
the  United  States  as  conquered  territory. 

The  following  dispatch  was  sent  by  Gen.  Kearney  to  the  War 
Department,  in  which  it  will  be  seen  that  he  did  not  withhold  the 
meed  of  credit  from  Fremont,  but  on  the  other  hand  was  so 
generous  as  to  award  him  a  full  measure  of  praise :  — 

"  This  morning  Lieutenant-Colonel  Fremont,  of  the  regiment 
of  mounted  riflemen,  reached  here  with  four  hundred  volunteers 
from  Sacramento;  the  enemy  capitulated  with  him  yesterday 
near  San  Fernando,  agreeing  to  lay  down  their  arms;  we  have 


360  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

now  the  prospect  of  having  peace  and  quietness  in  this  country, 
which  I  hope  may  not  be  interrupted  again." 

FREMONT'S  WILD  COHORT. 

We  have  thus  briefly  followed  some  of  the  more  important 
events  in  the  California  war  in  which  Carson  acted  a  conspicuous 
part.  But  while  these  were  few,  they  are  sufficient  to  prove  his 
indomitable  will  and  heroic  character,  as  well  also  the  confidence, 
so  worthily  bestowed,  reposed  in  him  by  Fremont,  Kearney,  and 
his  humbler  comrades.  When  Fremont  penetrated  the  vast 
western  wilderness,  though  acting  as  a  government  officer,  his 
equipment  for  the  three  expeditions  undertaken  was  meager, 
and  more  like  that  of  hardy  trappers  who  brave  the  perils  of 
mountain  forests,  unexplored  regions  and  almost  limitless 
prairies,  than  an  officer  outfitted  by  a  rich  government  to  explore 
a  large  portion  of  its  domain.  But  in  some  respects,  and  nota- 
bly so  in  the  composition  of  the  party  that  accompanied  him, 
these  seeming  obstacles  to  success  proved  in  the  end  his  greatest 
advantages.  His  baggage  being  limited,  there  was  less  liability 
to  interruption,  and  relying  largely  for  his  provisions  upon  the 
game  that  abounded  throughout  the  wild  West,  his  men  became 
inured  to  hardships,  and  more  ready  to  engage  in  any  adventure 
that  required  physical  endurance  or  great  daring.  Kelying,  also, 
upon  volunteers  for  the  service  required,  naturally  it  was  only 
the  brave  and  hardy  that  would  engage  with  him ;  men  who  had 
already  spent  a  portion  of  their  lives  in  the  primeval  solitudes  of 
the  trackless  wilderness,  of  mountains,  canon,  woods  and  plains, 
or  who,  impelled  by  an  inherent  love  of  wild  adventure,  sought 
this  means  to  gratify  their  longings.  A  description  of  the  heroic 
cohort  that  followed  Fremont  is  thus  given  by  Mr.  Walpole,  who 
was  an  o nicer  on  a  British  war  ship  that  was  lying  at  anchor  in 
the  bay  of  Monterey  when  the  capital  was  taken  by  Commodore 
Stockton :  — 

"  During  our  stay  in  Monterey  Captain  Fremont  and  his  party 
arrived .  They  naturally  excited  curiosity .  Here  were  true  trap- 
pers, the  class  that  produced  the  heroes  of  Fennimore  Cooper's 
best  works.  These  men  had  passed  years  in  the  wilds,  living 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON.  361 

upon  their  own  resources ;  they  were  a  curious  set.  A  vast 
cloud  of  dust  appeared  first,  and  thence  in  long  file  emerged  this 
wildest  wild  party.  Fremont  rode  ahead,  a  spare,  active  looking 
man,  with  such  an  eye !  He  was  dressed  in  a  blouse  and  leg- 
gings, and  wore  a  felt  hat.  After  him  came  five  Delaware  In- 
dians, who  were  his  body-guard,  and  have  been  with  him  through 
all  his  wanderings;  they  had  charge  of  two  baggage  horses. 
The  rest,  many  of  them  blacker  than  the  Indians,  rode  two  and 
two,  the  rifle  held  by  one  hand  across  the  pommel  of  the  saddle. 
Thirty-nine  of  them  are  his  regular  men,  the  rest  are  loafers 
picked  up  lately ;  his  original  men  are  principally  backwoods- 
men, from  the  State  of  Tennessee  and  the  banks  of  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Missouri.  He  has  one  or  two  with  him  who  enjoy 
a  high  reputation  in  the  prairies.  Kit  Carson  is  as  well  known 
there  as  '  the  Duke  '  is  in  Europe.  The  dress  of  these  men  was 
principally  a  long  loose  coat  of  deer  skin,  tied  with  thongs  in 
front;  trousers  of  the  same,  of  their  own  manufacture,  which, 
when  wet  through,  they  take  off,  scrape  well  inside  with  a  knife, 
and  put  on  as  soon  as  dry ;  the  saddles  were  of  various  fashions, 
though  these  and  a  large  drove  of  horses,  and  a  brass  field-gun, 
were  things  they  had  picked  up  about  California.  They  are  al- 
lowed no  liquor,  tea  and  sugar  only;  this,  .no  doubt,  has  much 
to  do  with  their  good  conduct;  and  the  discipline,  too,  is  very 
strict.  They  were  marched  up  to  an  open  space  on  the  hills  near 
the  town,  near  some  large  fires,  and  there  took  up  their  quar- 
ters, in  messes  of  six  or  seven,  in  the  open  air.  The  Indians  lay 
beside  their  leader.  One  man,  a  doctor,  six  feet  high,  was  an 
odd-looking  fellow.  May  I  never  come  under  his  hands  I" 


STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTEE 
CARSON'S  FOURTH  OVERLAND  JOURNEY* 


ARSON  remained  in  California  from  Decem- 
ber, 1847,  until  March  following,  stationed 
latterly  at  a  post  called  Bridge  Creek,  which 
was  some  fifteen  miles  from  Los  Angeles. 
Peace  having  been  concluded;  or,  rather, 
hostilities  having  entirely  ceased,  a  party  of 
twenty  of  Fremont's  men  was  detailed  to 
convey  the  accumulated  letters  and  messages 
to  Washington.  The  party  was  placed  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant  Geo.  D.  Brewerton,  and  Carson  was  chosen  to  act  as 
guide,  a  position  he  accepted  with  much  pleasure  as  the  route 
over  which  they  would  have  to  travel  was  by  way  of  Taos,  and 
the  trip  would  therefore  give  him  an  opportunity  of  seeing  his 
family  from  whom  he  had  now  so  long  been  separated. 

Preparations  for  the  journey  being  completed  the  caravan  of 
pack  animals  and  mounted  men  started  forth  presenting  a  curious 
sight,  as  everything  about  the  party  betokened  a  primitive,  not  to 
say  a  wild,  appearance.  All  the  animals  used  were  mules,  which 
were  caparisoned  with  saddles,  bridles  and  packs  peculiar  to 
the  early  Mexican  civilization,  and  of  patterns  that  can  be  found 
among  no  other  people. 

Nothing  of  interest  occurred  on  the  journey  until  the  party 
were  eight  days  out  from  their  starting  point,  when  they  met  a 
Mexican  cabelledo,  or  caravan,  of  two  hundred  greasers,  driving 
a  large  herd  of  mules  and  horses,  the  product  of  their  trading 
with  South  California  Indians,  which  they  were  taking  back  with 
them  to  Santa  Fe.  This  company  was  even  more  grotesque  in 
appearance  than  the  party  that  Carson  was  guiding,  and  in  some 
respects  bore  a  striking  resemblance,  as  we  imagine,  to  the 
Arabian  caravans  that  cross  equatorial  Africa  with  a  horde  of 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON.  363 

fresh  captive  slaves.  The  Mexicans  were  dressed  in  an  incon- 
ceivable variety  of  costumes,  ranging  from  the  richly  embroid- 
ered jacket  usually  worn  by  wealthy  Calif  ornians  in  those  days, 
with  its  bell-shaped  silver  buttons,  to  the  scanty  habiliments  of 
the  skin-clad  Indian.  Their  cabelledo  contained  not  only  horses 
and  mules  but  stray  burros  destined  to  pack  wood  across  the 
mountains  of  New  Mexico.  Their  line  of  march  extended  over 
a  mile.  It  would  have  been  quite  easy  to  capture  the  whole  out- 
fit, as  many  of  them  had  no  arms,  being  only  provided  with  the 
long  bow  and  arrows  usually  carried  by  New  Mexican  herds- 
men. Others  were  armed  with  old  English  muskets  condemned 
long  ago  as  unserviceable,  while  many  carried  old  dragoon 
sabers,  dull,  rusty,  and  perfectly  worthless  even  at  close  quar- 
ters. Carson  and  his  party  spent  the  night  with  this  motley 
crowd,  and  in  passing  through  their  camp  were  still  more  struck 
with  their  singular  customs.  Their  pack  saddles  and  bales  were 
taken  off  at  night  and  carefully  piled,  so  as  to  not  only  protect 
them  from  damp,  but  to  form  a  sort  of  barricade,  in  case  of  at- 
tack, for  the  owner.  From  one  side  to  the  other  of  these  little 
piles  a  blanket  was  stretched,  under  which  the  trader  lay 
stretched,  smoking  his  cigaretto,  while  his  servant  prepared  his 
coffee  and  "  atole." 

PRECAUTIONS     USED     IN     PASSING     THROUGH   A   HOSTILE    COUNTRY. 

Not  long  after  leaving  this  caravan  the  party  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  finding  quantities  of  clear  and  tempting  water  that  oozed 
from  the  rocks  into  small  pools  which  had  not  been  muddied  by 
the  feet  of  dirty  men  and  animals.  As  they  moved  on,  they 
found  that  the  only  living  creatures  which  inhabit  the  desert,  ex- 
cept the  prowling  Digger  Indians,  were  small  rabbits  which  bur- 
row in  the  ground,  lizards  in  great  quantities,  and  a  small  but 
very  venomous  description  of  rattlesnake.  The  daily  routine  of 
life  in  the  desert  has  a  sort  of  terrible  sameness  in  it ;  they  rode 
from  fifteen  to  fifty  miles  a  day  according  to  the  distance  from 
water.  Occasionally,  after  a  long  drive,  they  halted  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  to  recruit  their  stock  on  the  scanty  grass.  Among 


364 


STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST, 


the  men  there  was  but  little  talking,  and  less  joking  and  laughing 
even  round  the  camp  fire.  The  gloomy  wastes,  the  scanty  food 
and  hard  travel,  together  with  a  consciousness  of  continued 
perils,  all  tended  to  repress  the  animal  spirits.  Carson,  while 
traveling,  scarcely  spoke.  His  keen  eye  was  continually  exam- 
ining the  country,  and  his  whole  manner  was  that  of  a  man 


DIGGER    INDIAN   BOYS    RACING. 

deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  responsibility.  They  ate  bul 
twice  a  day  and  their  food  was  so  coarse  and  scanty  that  it 
not  a  pleasure,  but  a  necessity.  At  night  every  care  was  takei 
to  prevent  surprise.  In  an  Indian  country,  a  mule  is  the  besl 
sentry.  They  discover,  either  by  their  keen  sense  of  smell  01 
of  vision  the  vicinity  of  the  lurking  savage  long  before  the 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON.  365 

mountaineer,  experienced  as  he  is,  can  see  him.  If  thus  alarmed, 
the  mule  shows  its  uneasiness  by  snorting  and  extending  the 
head  and  ears  toward  the  object  of  suspicion. 

During  this  journey  Lieut.  Brewerton  says  he  often  watched 
with  great  curiosity  Carson's  preparation  for  the  night.  "  A 
braver  man,"  says  the  Lieutenant,  "  than  Kit  perhaps  never 
lived;  in  fact  I  doubt  if  he  ever  knew  what  fear  was,  but  with 
all  this  he  exercised  great  caution.  While  arranging  his  bed, 
his  saddle,  which  he  always  used  as  a  pillow,  was  disposed  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  barricade  for  his  head;  his  pistols, 
half  cocked,  were  laid  above  it,  and  his  trusty  rifle  reposed  be- 
neath his  blanket  by  his  side,  where  it  was  not  only  ready  for 
instant  use,  but  perfectly  protected  from  the  damp.  Except 
now  and  then  to  light  his  pipe,  you  never  caught  Kit  exposing 
himself  to  the  full  glare  of  the  camp  fire.  He  knew  too  well  the 
treacherous  character  of  the  tribes  among  whom  he  was  now 
traveling;  he  had  seen  men  killed  at  night  by  a  concealed  foe, 
who,  veiled  in  darkness,  stood  in  perfect  security,  while  he 
shot  down  the  mountaineer,  clearly  seen  by  the  fire-light.  '  No, 
no,  boys,'  Kit  would  say,  <  hang  round  the  fire  if  you  will,  it 
may  do  for  you,  if  you  like  it,  but  I  don't  want  to  have  a  Digger 
slip  an  arrow  into  me  when  I  can't  see  him.'  3 

In  crossing  the  desert  it  is  often  necessary  to  march  long  dis- 
tances without  water.  These  dry  stretches  are  called  by  the 
Mexicans  "jornados;"  one  of  these  which  they  were  about  to 
enter  was  sometimes  called  the  "  Jornado  del  Muerto"  (the 
journey  of  death)  the  distance  from  one  water  hole  to  another 
being  not  less  than  eighty  miles,  and  on  account  of  the  animals 
it  was  highly  important  it  should  be  traveled  at  once.  To  ac- 
complish this,  a  start  was  made  about  three  o'clock  one  after- 
noon and  the  other  side  of  the  jornado  was  reached  late  in  the 
morning  of  the  following  day,  the  greater  part  of  the  distance 
being  gone  over  by  moonlight.  None  can  forget  the  impres- 
sions left  on  the  mind  by  such  a  night's  journey.  Sometimes 
the  trail  leads  over  large  basins  of  deep  sand,  where  the  tramp- 
lings  of  the  mules'  feet  give  forth  no  sound ;  this,  added  to  the 


366  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

Almost  terrible  silence  that  always  reigns  in  the  solitudes  of  the 
•desert,  renders  the  transit  more  like  the  passage  of  some  airy 
spectacle  where  the  actors  are  shadows  instead  of  men.  Scat- 
tered along  the  route  were  seen  numerous  remains  of  animals 
and  horses  which  at  some  former  period  had  dropped  down 
and  died  by  the  wayside.  The  frequent  recurrence  of'  these 
bleaching  bones  and  skulls  were  familiar  scenes  to  Carson,  and 
the  old  hunters  of  the  party.  The  Pau-Eutaw,  or  Digger  In- 
dians (so  called  from  the  roots  which  they  dig  from  the  ground 
and  on  which  they  depend  for  a  greater  portion  of  their  miserable 
existence)  began  to  make  their  appearance  shortly  after  the 
party  had  crossed  the  great  jornado.  They  then  had  a  genuine 
Indian  alarm  in  camp  thus  described  by  the  Lieutenant :  — 

.    AN  ALARM  IN  CAMP. 

4 'Our  camp  was  pitched  on  the  borders  of  a  little  stream, 
where  a  few  scanty  patches  of  grass  afforded  some  refreshment 
to  our  tired  beasts;  and  our  party  with  few  exceptions,  besides 
the  watchful  horseguard,  were  stretched  upon  the  ground  resting 
wearily  after  the  long  night's  ride.  Carson,  who  was  lying  beside 
me,  suddenly  raised  himself  upon  his  elbow,  and  turning  to  me 
asked :  '  Do  you  see  those  Indians  ?'  at  the  same  time  pointing 
to  the  crest  of  one  of  the  gravelly,  bluff-like  hills  with  which  we 
were  surrounded.  After  a  careful  examination  I  was  obliged  to 
reply  in  the  negative.  '  Well,'  said  Kit  '  I  saw  an  Indian's  head 
there  just  now,  and  there  are  a  party  of  at  least  a  dozen  or  more 
or  I  am  much  mistaken.'  Scarcely  were  the  words  out  of  his 
mouth,  when  a  savage  rose  to  his  full  height,  as  if  he  had  grown 
from  the  rocks  which  fringed  the  hill  top;  this  fellow  com- 
menced yelling  in  a  strange,  gutteral  tongue,  at  the  same  time 
gesticulating  violently  with  his  hands.  This  he  intended  as  a 
declaration  of  friendship ;  and  Kit  answered  him  in  his  own  lan- 
guage: 'Tigabu!  Tigabu!'  (friend,  friend).  After  a  little  de- 
lay, and  an  evident  consultation  with  his  people,  the  old  Digger 
(for  such  he  proved  to  be)  came  at  first  rapidly  and  then  more 
slowly  towards  us,  descending  the  steep  hillside  with  an  agility 
astonishing  in  so  aged  a  being.  Carson  advanced  a  short  dis- 
tance to  meet  him,  and  again  renewed  his  assurance  of  our  friend- 
ship ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  old  man  had  been  presented  with 
some  trifling  gifts  that  he  seemed  fully  at  his  ease  and  then 


LIFE   OF   KIT   CARSON.  367 

yelled  to  his  companions  to  join  him.  This  they  did  with  evident 
caution,  coming  into  our  camp  two  or  three  at  a  time,  until  they 
numbered  upwards  of  a  dozen.  The  old  man  had  evidently  been 
sent  as  a  sort  of  forlorn  hope  to  fail  a  victim  should  we  be  in- 
clined to  hostility. '-' 

Carson's  party  were  arranging  themselves  on  the  ground  in  a 
circle,  for  the  purpose  of  smoking  and  having  a  talk  "  a  la  In- 
dian." when  a  new  party,  with  a  large  drove  of  horses  and  mules 
made  their  appearance.  These  new  comers  proved  to  be  a  small 
band  of  Americans  who  were  driving  their  cattle  into  the  Utah 
country  with  a  view  of  trading  with  that  tribe  of  Indians.  The 
owner  of  the  animals  and  leader  of  the  party  was  a  Mr.  Walker, 
an  old  acquaintance  of  Carson's  from  Missouri.  After  securing 
his  cabelledo,  and  making  a  camp  in  the  vicinity,  Walker  joined 
the  party  and  the  interrupted  council  was  resumed.  The  pipe 
having  finally  gone  the  rounds,  Kit  explained  as  much  of  his 
route  and  future  intentions  as  he  thought  necessary,  and  con- 
cluded by  charging  divers  murders  and  outrages  upon  the  tribe 
to  which  the  visitors  belonged.  The  Diggers  answered  to  the 
effect  that  there  were  bad  Indians  living  among  the  hills,  but  as 
for  themselves,  they  were  perfectly  innocent,  never  did  anything 
wrong  in  their  lives,  liked  the  whites  and  Carson  in  particular, 
and  wound  up  by  diplomatically  hinting  that  a  present  of  a  horse 
or  some  such  trifle  would  not  be  unacceptable  as  an  evidence  of 
esteem. 

DISGUSTING   HABITS  OF  THE  DIGGER  INDIANS. 

These  Digger  Indians,  says  Lieut.  Brewerton,  are  the  most 
degraded  and  miserable  beings  who  inhabit  this  continent;  their 
bag-like  covering  is  of  the  very  scantiest  description,  their  food 
revolting.  Some  of  them  brought  lizards  with  them  into  camp 
and  ate  them  raw ;  or  with  no  further  preparation  than  jerking 
off  the  reptile's  tail.  The  hair  of  these  savages  is  long,  reach- 
ing nearly  to  their  middle,  and  almost  as  coarse  as  the  mane  of 
a  mule.  Their  faces  are  perfectly  devoid  of  any  intellectual  ex- 
pression, save  the  eye,  which  is  exceedingly  keen.  Both  in  man- 
ners and  appearances  they  have  a  strong  similarity  to  a  wild 


368 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WES'I. 


beast,  and  while  walking  they  turn  the  head  from  loft  to  right 
quickly  in  the  manner  of  a  prairie  wolf.  In  voracity  they  bear 
a  greater  resemblance  to  the  anaconda  than  any  human  being. 
Five  or  six  of  these  Indians  will  sit  around  a  dead  horse  and  eat 
until  nothing  but  the  bones  remain.  The  arms  of  this  degraded 
people  consists  of  a  bow  of  uncommon  strength  and  arrows 
headed  with  flint;  these  last  they  are  said  to  poison  with  rattle- 


DTGGEK    INDIAN    WOMEN. 

snake's  venom  and  an  extract  distilled  from  some  plant  known 
only  to  themselves. 

Shortly  after  Carson's  depaiture  from  this  encampment  they 
perceived  smoke  rising  from  prominent  hills  in  the  vicinity. 
These  fires  were  repeated  at  various  points  along  their  route, 
showing  that  the  Diggers  were  signaling  the  passage  of  strangers 
through  their  country.  The  following  day  parties  of  these  In- 


LIFE    OF   KIT    CARSON.  369 

dians  showed  themselves  upon  the  crests  of  inaccesible  hills  and 
seemed  unwilling  to  come  within  gun  shot ;  nor  was  it  until  they 
had  gone  two  days'  journey  from  their  camp  that  a  few  of  the 
Diggers  mustered  courage  to  visit  them;  and  when  they  did 
so  Carson  concluded  to  retain  one  of  their  number,  a  young  war- 
rior, as  a  hostage  for  their  good  behavior. 

Some  time  during  the  night  the  captive's  companions  on  the 
hills  set  up  a  most  dismal  howling.  This  disturbance  Carson 
finally  quieted  by  replying  in  the  Pau-Eutaw  tongue,  aided  by 
the  assurances  of  the  prisoner,  who  yelled  back  to  his  friends  an 
answer  to  the  effect  that  he  was  still  alive  and  unharmed.  The 
night  passed  quietly  away  and  in  the  morning  the  hostage  was 
allowed  to  depart  with  a  few  trifling  presents. 

A   FRIGHTFUL     SPECTACLE. 

At  the  Archilette,  a  well  known  camping  ground  in  the  desert, 
they  passed  a  day  and  a  night.  This  dreary  spot  obtained  a 
notoriety  from  having  been  the  scene  of  one  of  Carson's  exploits 
enacted  April  24th,  1844.  On  the  day  preceding  this  date  a 
small  party  of  traders  under  the  leadership  of  Andreas  Fuentes, 
a  Mexican,  was  attacked  by  one  hundred  Indians  who  pounced  on 
the  camp  at  night,  charging,  shouting  and  discharging  flights  of 
arrows.  The  principal  object  of  the  Indians  was  to  get  posses- 
sion of  the  horses,  to  accomplish  which  they  immediately  sur- 
rounded the  herd  and  tried  to  stampede  them,  but  Fuentes  and 
his  men  drove  several  of  the  animals  over  and  through  the  as- 
sailants in  spite  of  their  arrows,  and,  abandoning  the  rest  to  their 
fate,  hurried  the  horses  off  at  full  speed  across  the  plains. 
Knowing  that  they  wrould  be  pursued,  without  making  any  halt, 
except  to  shift  their  saddles  to  other  horses,  they  drove  them  on 
about  sixty  miles,  and  left  them  to  rest  and  recruit  at  a  watering 
place  called  Agua  de  Tomaso,  and  then  hurried  to  meet  the 
Spanish  caravan,  which  they  knew  was  in  the  vicinity,  and  which 
they  found  at  Fremont's  camp,  the  two  parties  having  met  on  the 
previous  night.  After  traveling  about  twenty-five  miles,  Fre- 
mont arrived  at  the  Agua  de  Tomaso  —  the  spring  where  the 

M 


370  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

horses  had  been  left  —  but  as  he  expected,  the  animals  were  gone, 
having  been  found  and  driven  off  by  the  Indians.  Carson  and 
Godey  volunteered  to  accompany  Fuentes  in  pursuit  of  the 
thieves,  and,  well  mounted,  the  three  set  out  on  the  trail.  The 
next  afternoon  Fremont  was  greeted  with  a  war-whoop,  such 
as  Indians  make  when  returning  from  a  victorious  enterprise, 
and  soon  Carson  and  Godey  appeared,  driving  before  them  Fuen- 
tes' stolen  horses.  Two  bloody  scalps  dangled  from  their  guns, 
indicating  they  had  overtaken  the  Indians  as  well  as  the  horses. 
Fremont  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  exploit  from  the  lips 
of  Carson,  in  which  he  says  the  three  pursuers  struck  the  Indian 
trail  and  followed  it  through  a  narrow  defile  by  moonlight  until 
midnight  when,  afraid  of  losing  the  trail  owing  to  the  darkness 
that  succeeded  the  setting  moon,  they  tied  up  their  horses,  struck 
no  fire,  and  lay  down  to  sleep  in  silence.  At  daylight  they  re- 
sumed the  pursuit  and  at  sunrise  discovered  the  horses.  Imme- 
diately dismounting,  they  crept  cautiously  to  a  rising  ground, 
from  the  crest  of  which  they  perceived  the  Indian  lodges  close 
by  but  the  movement  of  the  captive  horses  discovered  them  to 
the  Indians.  Giving  the  war-whoop,  the  three  brave  men 
instantly  charged  into  camp,  taking  the  Indians  so  completely  by 
surprise  that  only  a  few  arrows  were  discharged  at  the  invaders, 
one  of  which  cut  through  Godey's  shirt  collar,  barely  missing  his 
neck.  Two  Indians  were  killed,  and  the  rest  fled  with  great  pre- 
cipitation, not  even  halting  to  carry  away  the  two  dead  bodies 
with  them.  A  third  Indian  also  fell,  so  badly  wounded  that  he 
appeared  as  dead,  but  while  Carson  was  scalping  the  three  the 
wounded  Indian  recovered  consciousness  and  sprang  to  his  feet, 
the  blood  streaming  from  his  skinned  head,  and  uttered  a  hid- 
eous howl.  An  old  squaw,  possibly  his  mother,  stopped  and 
looked  back  from  the  mountain  side  she  was  climbing,  threaten- 
ing and  lamenting.  The  stout  hearts  of  the  men,  appalled  by 
the  frightful  spectacle,  did  what  humanity  required,  and  quickly 
put  an  end  to  the  agonies  of  the  gory  savage.  Carson  and  his 
companion  were  now  masters  of  the  camp.  They  found  prepar- 
ations made  for  a  great  feast.  Several  of  the  best  horses  had 


LITE    OF   KIT    CARSON.  371 

been  butchered,  skinned  and  sliced  up,  and  large  earthen  vessela 
were  on  the  fire  boiling  and  stewing  the  horse-beef.  Fearing 
that  the  Indians  might  rally  after  discovering  that  their  assailants 
were  only  three,  as  against  nearly  fifty  of  their  own  party,  Car- 
son speedily  gathered  the  fifteen  horses  and  drove  them  with  all 
possible  speed  back  to  the  camp  of  ^Fremont,  when  they  were 
turned  over  to  Fuentes, 

Carson  and  Godey  had  ridden  about  one  hundred  miles  in  pur- 
suit of  the  Indians,  recaptured  the  horses  and  returned  to  camp 
in  less  than  thirty  hours.  Fremont  observes  of  this  exploit: 
"  The  time  and  place,  object  and  numbers  considered,  the  ex- 
pedition of  Carson  and  Godey  may  be  placed  among  the  boldest 
acts  of  disinterested  kindness  which  the  annals  of  Western  ad- 
venture, so  full  of  daring  deeds,  can  present.  Two  men  in  a 
savage  desert,  pursue  day  and  night  an  unknown  body  of  Indians, 
into  the  defiles  of  an  unknown  mountain  —  attack  them  on  sight 
without  counting  numbers — and  defeat  them  in  an  instant,  and 
for  what?  To  punish  the  robbers  of  the  desert,  and  to  avenge 
the  wrongs  of  Mexicans  whom  they  did  not  know." 

Some  of  the  foregoing  details  were  narrated  to  Lieut.  Brewer- 
ton  by  Carson,  one  of  the  principal  actors  in  the  affair,  while  en- 
camped on  the  ground  where  it  took  place. 

THE    BLEACHING    BOXES    OF   A   MURDERED   PARTY. 

The  adventures  of  Carson  and  his  party  in  the  desert  were 
terminated  at  the  Las  Vegas  de  Santa  Clara  where  they  were 
once  more  cheered  with  the  sight  of  green  grass  and  pure  sweet 
water.  Their  journey  then  led  them  past  Little  Salt  Lake  and 
along  the  foot  of  the  Wahsatch  mountains,  whose  summits  were 
covered  with  snow  many  feet  in  depth.  In  traversing  one  of  these 
gorges  they  came  suddenly  upon  ten  human  remains,  which 
lay  scattered  here  and  there  bleached  by  the  elements.  The 
bones  had  been  dragged  by  hungry  wolves  along  a  space  of  some 
yards  in  extent.  It  was  concluded  that  these  mournful  relics 
were  the  remains  of  some  unfortunate  party  of  whites  who  had 
been  cut  off  by  Indians.  One  of  the  skeletons  which  lay  alone 


372 


LIFE   OF   KIT   CARSON.  373 

and  separated  from  the  rest,  appeared,  from  the  arrow  heads  and 
bullets  yet  marking  the  tree  which  guarded  it,  to  have  belonged 
to  an  individual  of  the  party  who  had  fought  from  this  shelter 
until  overcome  by  numbers.  It  was  afterwards  learned  that  the 
bones  belonged  to  a  party  of  Americans  from  Arkansas,  who 
had  been  surprised  by  hostile  Indians  while  resting  at  noon,  and 
instantly  killed,  with  the  exception  of  one  of  their  number,  who 
snatched  up  his  rifle,  retreated  to  the  nearest  cover,  and  there 
fought  with  all  the  energy  of  despair,  killing  several  of  the  sav- 
ages before  being  dispatched  by  the  arrows  of  his  assailants. 

WRECK   OF   THE    RAFT. 

No  further  incident  of  note  occurred  until  the  party  reached 
Grand  River,  which  had  become  much  swollen  by  melting  snows, 
and  was  now  become  an  angry  stream.  The  only  possible  way 
of  effecting  a  crossing  was  by  means  of  a  raft,  which  the  men 
quickly  fell  to  work  constructing.  Several  large  trees  were  felled 
and  being  cut  into  desirable  lengths  were  rolled  into  the  water 
and  secured  together  by  means  of  riatas.  Upon  this  raft  the 
mails  and  provisions,  including  guns,  ammunition  and  riding  sad- 
dles were  placed  and  preparations  made  to  pole  ifc  across.  The 
stream,  however,  proved  much  too  deep  for  any  pole  to  reach 
bottom,  whereupon  it  was  proposed  that  some  of  the  best  swim- 
mers should  undertake  to  make  a  passage  carrying  across  with 
them  a  rope  made  fast  to  the  raft.  Carson  was  one  of  five  who 
swam  the  stream,  but  when  he  had  crossed,  the  rope  became 
detached  from  the  raft  and  another  passage  had  to  be  made, 
though  the  stream  was  nearly  one  thousand  feet  wide.  After 
repeated  failures  and  an  accident,  by  which  Lieutenant  Brewer- 
ton  came  near  being  drowned,  the  raft  was  finally  got  over,  but 
in  landing  it  was  dashed  against  some  drift  wood  and  broken 
asunder,  letting  all  the  provisions  into  the  water.  The  mail  was 
recovered,  but  six  guns,  three  saddles,  and  considerable  ammuni- 
tion was  lost.  The  horses  were  driven  into  the  stream,  before 
the  raft  was  started,  and  following  the  lead  of  a  bell-mare  made 
the  passage  in  safety,  apparently  enjoying  the  swim. 


374 


STOBT   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


The  journey  thenceforth  was  not  interrupted,  except  at  Green 
River,  where  the  party  passed  through  an  experience  very  sim- 
ilar to  that  which  befell  them  in  crossing  the  Grand,  though  with 
less  loss.  Several  bands  of  Indians  were  met,  but  they  offered 
little  opposition,  being  readily  placated  by  Carson  who  spoke 


CARSON  RESCUING  THE  LIEUTENANT. 

:heir  tongue  with  fluency  and  was  thus  able  to  explain  his  peace- 
ful mission. 

Taos  was  at  length  reached,  and  Carson  now  realized  the  long 
anticipated  joy  of  meeting  his  family,  from  whom  he  had  been 
separated  and  heard  nothing  for  more  than  a  year.  Lieutenant 
Brewerton  became  his  guest  for  a  week  and  speaks  in  the  highest 
terms  of  the  generous  hospitality  of  Carson  and  of  the  gentle 


LIFE   OF  KIT   CARSON.  375 

ind  charming  manners  of  his  Spanish  wife.  At  Taos  the  mail 
that  had  been  brought  by  the  party  from  California  was  en- 
trusted to  a  company  of  cavalry  that  carried  it  through  to  Leav- 
enworth,  from  which  it  was  transmitted  by  the  usual  convey- 
ance. 

CARSON    PROCEEDS    TO    WASHINGTON   AND    IS    LIONIZED. 

Carson  had  been  in  Taos  only  a  short  while  when  he  received 
news  that  his  appointment  as  Lieutenant,  by  President  Polk,  had 
not  been  confirmed  by  the  Senate  owing  to  some  objection  being 
raised  by  a  party  whose  name  Carson  was  never  able  to  learn, 
nor  could  the  object  of  his  opposition  ever  be  ascertained.  The 
tardy  recognition  of  his  services,  and  particularly  the  insult 
which  the  rejection  of  his  nomination  implied,  worried  and  an- 
gered the  sensitive  nature  of  Carson,  until  he  concluded  to 
proceed  to  Washington  and  personally  determine  the  extent  and 
cause  of  the  opposition  that  had  been  made  to  his  appointment. 
This  determination  wag  reached  after  a  serious  reflection  on  his 
wrongs,  but  not  until  he  received  an  engagement  to  guide  a 
party  of  ten  men  to  Ft.  Leavenworth,  the  regular  route  being  at 
the  time  so  invested  with  hostile  Comanches  as  to  make  travel 
over  it,  except  in  large  and  well-armed  parties,  exceedingly  dan- 
gerous. For  this  reason  Carson  piloted  his  party  northward  to 
the  Platte,  and  thence  by  Fort  Kearney  over  an  untrodden  way, 
but  succeeded  in  reaching  Leavenworth  in  due  season  and  without 
encountering  any  dangers  or  serious  difficulties. 

Carson  proceeded  to  St.  Louis  by  steamer  and  on  his  arrival 
there  was  received  by  U.  S.  Senator  Thomas  Benton  who  induced 
him  to  stop  over  a  few  days  and  be  presented  to  the  prominent 
people  of  the  city.  His  presence  being  soon  known  a  large  num- 
ber of  St.  Louisans,  both  ladies  and  gentlemen, called  on  him  at 
Col.  Benton' s  house,  and  manifested  their  admiration  in  many 
ways,  the  ladies  generally  by  fairly  embowering  him  with  bou- 
quets and  the  gentlemen  presenting  more  substantial  tokens  of 
their  regard.  All  these  tender  attentions,  while  gratifying  in 
one  sense  were  very  embarrassing  to  Carson  whose  diffidence  in 


376  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

society  and  repugnance  to  adulation  of  any  kind,  caused  him  to 
make  his  stay  in  St.  Louis  shorter  than  it  would  probably  have 
been  under  more  quiet  circumstances. 

From  St.  Louis  Carson  went  directly  to  Washington,  and  his 
coming  being  heralded  in  advance,  a  delegation  headed  by  Mrs. 
Fremont  met  him  at  the  depot  and  composed  a  distinguished 
escort  to  accompany  him  to  a  hotel  selected  for  his  accommoda- 
tion. In  Washington  the  attention  bestowed  upon  him  was  even 
more  ostentatious  than  that  which  he  received  in  St.  Louis.  He 
was  presented  to  the  President  and  Cabinet  officials  who  accorded 
him  a  recognition  and  regard  equal  to  that  which  a  powerful  po- 
tentate might  receive.  The  Senate  being  then  in  session  he 
visited  that  body  and  was  presented  to  both  branches  of  Con- 
gress. Under  the  excitement  occasioned  by  his  visit  the  Senate 
took  up  the  matter  of  his  appointment,  action  having  been  sus- 
pended to  await  the  report  of  a  committee  to  whom  the  nomina- 
tion had  been  referred.  This  committee  now  reported  favorably, 
and  on  a  vote  the  Senate  unanimously  confirmed  his  appointment. 

After  a  week's  stay  in  Washington  Carson  grew  tired  of  the 
festivities  and  nattering  attentions  to  which  he  was  continually 
subjected  and  returned  to  Taos,  arriving  home,  almost  simultane- 
ously with  the  return  to  that  post  of  General  Fremont,  whom  he 
had  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  for  several  days.  In  fact,  when 
Fremont  reached  Taos  he  was  in  too  feeble  a  condition  to  move 
further  without  recuperating,  as  he  had  passed  through  a  period 
of  unparalleled  suffering,  entailed  by  incompetent  guides,  who, 
not  being  familiar  with  the  country,  had  led  him  out  of  the  way 
and  left  him  lost  for  several  weeks  in  the  mountains,  unable  to 
get  out  on  account  of  snow  blocking  the  passes.  A  record  of 
this  return  journey  from  Calif ornia  appears  in  General  Fremont's 
report  of  his  last  operations  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  and  composes 
a  chapter  thrilling  for  its  sadness,  with  descriptions  ot 
that  will  wring  a  tear  of  pity  from  any  reader. 


LIFE   OF  KIT  CARSON.  377 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

CARSON  AGAIN  CALLED  FROM  A    QUIET  PURSUIT. 

PON  Carson's  return  to  Taos  he  decided  to  settle 
down  again  in  the  quiet  and  promising  pursuit 
of  sheep-raising,  and  was  joined  in  this  reso- 
lution by  his  old  friend  Maxwell.  The  two 
formed  a  copartnership,  and  by  uniting  their 
means  purchased  a  thousand  head  of  sheep 
with  which  they  started  a  ranch  fifty  miles  east 
of  Taos,  in  a  beautiful  valley  to  which  the  In- 
dians had  given  the  name  Rayedo. '  Ho  spot 
in  all  New  Mexico  is  so  delightfully  situated, 
or  so  advantageous  for  the  purposes  to  which  it  was  now  to  be 
devoted.  A  perennial  mountain  stream  cleaves  the  valley,  which 
ensures  a  permanently  rich  pasturage,  while  abruptly  rising  moun- 
tains afford  shelter  from  the  destructive  blizzards  that  occasion- 
ally visit  that  region.  Here  in  this  wondrously  favored  valley 
Carson  and  Maxwell  not  only  began  the  raising  of  sheep  but  also 
built  several  adobe  houses  and  soon  had  established  a  flourishing 
settlement  which  still  remains,  though  small  in  population. 

In  the  congenial  pursuit  now  adopted  Carson  was  not  long  per- 
mitted to  continue,  for  his  reputation  was  now  co-extensive  with 
the  nation,  and  he  was  almost  constantly  being  called  to  partici- 
pate in  so:ue  expedition  against  marauding  Indians  or  to  act  as 
guide  to  parties  of  traders,  many  of  which  were  always  traveling 
through  the  country  buying  up  horses  and  peltries.  Though  at 
this  time  there  was  a  considerable  population  of  whites  in  New 
Mexico  the  Indians  had  not  as  yet  been  sufficiently  punished  to 
compel  them  to  observe  the  treaties  they  had  made,  and  depre- 
dations by  prowling  bands  were  common 

INDIAN  OUTRAGES. 

Very  soon  after  Carson's  settlement  in  Rayedo  Valley  a  party 
of  Apaches  made  a  raid  through  northern  New  Mexico,  murder- 


378  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

ing  defenseless  people,  running  off  horses,  and  plundering  every 
home  they  were  able  to  desolate.  Near  Santa  Fe  they  made  an 
attack  on  the  house  of  a  merchant  named  White,  and  before  as- 
sistance could  be  summoned,  broke  down  the  door  and  rushing 
in  killed  the  merchant  and  his  son,  though  not  until  the  two  had 
slain  three  of  their  foes.  The  other  Indians  now  seized  the 
women  and  children  of  the  violated  home  and  carried  them  away 
captives,  making  off  in  the  direction  of  the  Las  Vegas  Mountains. 
News  of  these  outrages  spread  rapidly  and  it  was  determined  to 
administer  a  lesson  to  the  perpetrators  that  would  not  soon  be 
forgotten.  Rayedo  was  more  than  one  hundred  miles  northeast 
of  the  region  where  the  atrocities  were  committed,  but  so  greal 
was  Carson's  reputation  as  an  Indian  fighter  that  the  party  of 
New  Mexicans  organized  to  hunt  down  the  murderers,  sent  for  him 
and  would  not  move  until  he  responded  to  their  summons.  For 
some  reason  even  after  Carson  had  joined  the  party,  he  was  not 
called  to  act  as  leader,  that  responsible  position  being  given  to  a 
Frenchman  named  Leroux.  But  this  neglect  to  accord  to  him 
the  leadership  gave  no  affront  to  Carson,  who,  at  the  distress  call 
was  always  ready  to  answer  to  the  best  of  his  abilities  in  what- 
ever way  circumstances  or  exigencies  might  dictate. 

The  party  set  out  for  the  mountains  immediately  after  Carson 
joined  them  and  pushed  forward  with  all  possible  haste  on  the 
trail  with, the  hope  of  rescuing  the  captive  women  and  children, 
but  so  much  time  had  already  been  lost  that  the  pursuit  prom- 
ised to  end  in  disappointment.  Four  days  after  the  murder  of 
Mr.  White,  however,  the  New  Mexicans  found  the  object  of  their 
search.  The  Indians  were  already  within  their  mountain  fast- 
nesses and  well  prepared  to  resist  attack  from  ten  times  the 
number  that  had  given  pursuit,  but  without  considering  disadvan- 
tages Carson  gave  a  shout  and  dashed  after  the  savages,  expecting 
of  course  to  be  re-enforced  by  his  f ollowers ;  but  instead  of  the 
party  making  a  simultaneous  charge  they  all  fell  back,  a  fact 
which  Carson  did  not  discover  until  he  had  advanced  so  far  alone 
that  escape  seemed  impossible.  An  admirable  horseman,  and 
cool-headed  under  all  circumstances,  he  turned,  as  the  Indians 


APACHES*    ATTACK    AND   MURDER   OF    THE    WHITE    FAMILY.         379 


380 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


charged  on  him,  and  throwing  himself  on  the  off-side  of  his  horse 
rode  back  at  the  top  of  his  speed  towards  the  others  of  his  party 
who  had  made  a  stand  in  anticipation  of  an  attack.  Had  the  In- 
dians possessed  modern  fire-arms  Carson  would  no  doubt  have 
fallen  a  victim  to  his  over  confidence  in  his  followers,  but  for- 
tune always  favored  him  and  in  this  instance  spared  his  life, 
though  no  less  than  six  arrows  struck  his  horse,  and  a  bullet 
passed  through  his  suspended  coat-tail. 

Being  indifferently  armed,  the  Indians  did  not  long  follow  up 
the  pursuit  but  paused  upon  discovering  the  squad  of  horsemen, 
and  soon  retired  again  to  a  rocky  apex  from  whence  they  could 
watch  every  movement  of  the  whites.  Carson  was  furiously  mad 


A    HAIR-BREADTH    ESCAPE. 

at  the  apathy,  not  to  say  cowardice,  of  the  men  whom  he  had  ac- 
companied, but  he  was  too  anxious  for  the  concern  of  the  cap- 
tives to  manifest  his  feelings.  After  exhorting  the  men  upon 
their  duty  and  the  avowed  purpose  that  had  enlisted  his  services, 
he  induced  them  to  make  a  charge  on  the  Indians,  which  was 
accomplished  in  dashing  style,  and  so  bravely  that  the  sav- 
ages broke  and  fled  without  scarcely  an  effort  to  defend  them- 
selves, five  of  the  number  having  been  killed.  But  though  the 
charge  was  successful  it  was  made  too  late  to  save  the  captives, 
for  anticipating  the  result  of  an  attack  the  Indians  had  murdered 
the  women  and  their  children.  Pursuit  was  given  but  owing  to 
the  rocky  and  mountainous  region  was  necessarily  slow,  and  as 


LIFE    OF   KIT   CARSON.  381 

the  Indians  scattered  they  soon  managed  to  escape;  the  New 
Mexicans  were  therefore  compelled  to  return  with  no  other 
trophies  of  their  victory  than  five  scalps  and  the  bodies  of  the 
murdered  women  and  children. 

ANOTHER     FIGHT    WITH    INDIANS. 

In  the  following  winter  a  band  of  twenty  Apaches  made  a 
descent  upon  a  corral  of  government  horses  near  Rayedo  that 
were  in  charge  of  ten  dragoons  stationed  at  that  point  to  guard 
the  settlers  against  the  Indians.  This  small  party  afforded  so 
little  real  protection  that  the  Apaches  only  became  bolder  in 
committing  their  depredations,  apparently  believing  that  the 
government  was  unable  to  provide  a  stronger  force  of  soldiers. 
The  Indians  accordingly  dashed  into  the  corral  at  night  and 
stampeding  the  dozen  horses  within,  ran  them  off  and  were  more 
than  twenty  miles  away  before  the  theft  was  discovered.  On 
the  following  morning  the  dragoons  reported  their  loss  to  Car- 
Bon,  and  requested  him  to  accompany  them  in  pursuit,  which  he 
promptly  complied  with  by  enlisting  three  of  his  neighbors  and 
providing  the  entire  party  with  horses.  The  trail  was  easily  found 
and  followed  for  two  days,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  horses 
ridden  by  four  of  the  dragoons  gave  out  and  thus  compelled 
them  to  stop.  The  others  kept  on,  however,  and  overtook  the 
Indians  on  an  open  prairie  where  all  the  conditions  for  a  good 
fight  were  offered,  barring  the  disparity  in  numbers,  for  there 
were  only  ten  white  men  against  twenty  Indians.  Carson  was 
made  the  leader  now,  and  with  characteristic  dash  and  chivalric 
courage  he  ordered  a  charge.  The  Indians  might  have  easily 
escaped,  for  their  horses  were  comparatively  fresh,  or  by  mak- 
ing a  stand  could  no  doubt  have  repelled  their  assailants,  for  all 
were  well  armed,  but  instead  of  offering  battle  they  only  strove 
to  effect  an  escape  with  the  stolen  property  to  the  adjacent  hillsr 
in  which  they  partially  succeeded,  though  six  of  their  number 
were  killed  and  all  the  horses  except  four  were  recaptured. 

In  the  following  year  Carson  and  a  company  of  six  men  res- 
cued Messrs.  Brevoort  and  Weatherhead,  two  traders  from  St* 


382  STORY  or  THE  WILD  WEST, 

Louis,  with  a  large  train  of  goods,  from  a  party  of  twelve 
desperadoes,  who  accompanied  the  train  and  had  planned  to 
murder  the  traders  and  appropriate  their  effects.  Their  plot 
was  revealed  by  one  of  their  number  who  had  deserted,  and  Car- 
son learning  the  particulars  boldly  headed  a  rescuing  party.  By 
swift  riding  he  overtook  the  caravan  in  a  mountain  pass  and  dis- 
puted its  passage  under  the  pretense  of  a  desire  to  deliver  a  com- 
munication to  the  two  men  whose  lives  had  been  plotted  against. 
The  desperadoes,  suspecting  nothing,  offered  no  opposition,  and 
when  Brevoort  and  Weatherhead  were  told  of  the  plot  they  were 
at  once  put  on  their  guard.  Everything  was  secretly  managed  by 
Carson  and  with  such  adroitness  that  he  got  the  leader,  a  fellow 
named  Fox,  in  his  power  before  any  suspicions  of  his  real  pur- 
pose were  discovered.  At  a  signal  Carson's  company  drew  their 
rifles  on  the  would-be  murderers,  and  compelled  them  to  continue 
their  journey,  but  Fox  was  detained  and  escorted  to  Taos,  where 
he  was  delivered  over  to  the  proper  authorities,  but  he  soon  after 
dug  through  the  adobe  walls  of  his  prison  and  managed  to 
escape. 

CARSON   AGAIN    RESUMES    TRAPPING. 

The  reputation  and  disposition  of  Carson  to  aid  the  weak  and 
assist  in  punishing  crime  became  so  well  known  that  in  the  hos- 
tile and  lawless  country  he  had  selected  for  his  home,  his  serv- 
ices were  in  almost  constant  demand  though  little  to  his  profit. 
In  sheep  raising  he  had  been  only  fairly  prosperous,  but  would 
probably  have  been  contented  but  for  the  affrays  he  was  brought 
into  in  assisting  others,  which  served  to  keep  aflame  his  natural 
love  for  adventure ;  nor  was  this  feeling  diminished  by  the  coun- 
sel of  his  partner,  Maxwell,  whose  disposition  was  very  similar. 
Finally,  in  1853,  to  justify  his  longing  for  new  enterprises  in 
more  exciting  fields  he  proposed  to  his  partner  a  resumption  of 
their  old  occupation  of  trapping  which  he  thought  might  be  pros- 
ecuted profitably  on  the  South  Platte.  The  suggestion  met  with 
ready  approval,  and  the  two  soon  organized  a  company  of  eigh- 
teen choice  spirits  and  set  out  for  the  appointed  grounds,  well 
provisioned  and  prepared  for  a  year's  hunt.  Reaching  the 


LIFE   OF   KIT   CARSON. 


383 


stream  after  a  journey  of  nearly  three  weeks  they  were  rejoiced 
to  find  beaver  signs  abundant  and  after  making  their  camp  were 
not  disappointed  in  their  expectations.  No  trapping,  had  been 
done  on  these  waters  for  many  years,  and  beavers  had  become  so 
numerous  that  the  hunt  was  wonderfully  successful.  The  party 
continued  trapping  down  the  river,  and  thence  on  the  streams  in 
New  and  Old  Parks,  in  each  place  taking  many  hundred  beaver 
skins  until  they  could  find  no  means  for  conveying  any  more. 


CARSON'S  CAMP  ON  THE  SOUTH  PLATTE. 

With  their  valuable  stock  of  furs  they  returned  to  Kayedo  and 
and  thence  to  Taos  where  the  skins  were  sold  at  a  very  large 
profit,  making  Carson  richer  than  he  had  ever  been  before. 
Soon  after  this  gainful  enterprise  he  took  his  eldest  daughter  to 
St.  Louis  and  placed  her  in  a  Catholic  seminary,  resolved  to  give 
her  the  advantages  of  an  excellent  education,  a  determination 
that  was  only  defeated  by  her  untimely  death. 

While  in  St.  Louis,  Carson  was  proffered  the  hospitality  of 
several  prominent  citizens  who  would  have  been  glad  to  make  a 


384  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST, 

public  display  of  their  regard  for  him,  but  all  these  attentions  he 
declined  with  the  excuse  that  urgent  business  .required  his  imme- 
diate return  to  New  Mexico.  His  stay  in  St.  Louis  was,  there- 
fore >  limited  to  a  single  day,  for  city  life  or  the  adulation  of 
admiring  people  had  no  charms  for  him,  nor  could  he  find  con- 
tentment in  the  crowded  but  civil  walks  of  life  where  even 
elbow-room  is  farmed  out  at  a  high  rental.  Returning  to  New 
Mexico,  he  again  joined  forces  with  Maxwell,  for  whom  he  con- 
ceived the  affection  of  a  brother,  and  the  two  bought  up  several 
thousand  head  of  sheep  which  they  drove  to  the  California  mar- 
ket, going  by  way  of  Fort  Laramie  and  Salt  Lake  in  order  to 
avoid  hostile  Indians  that  were  then  pillaging  the  settlements  in 
Arizona.  They  reached  California  without  disaster  and  disposed 
of  their  flocks  but  with  such  small  advantage  that  Carson  had 
no  desire  to  repeat  the  experiment.  He  spent  some  time  in 
California  visiting  the  old  towns  he  had  known  in  earlier  days, 
as  well  as  those  that  had  sprung  up  since  his  last  visit,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1 854  he  returned  to  Taos  where  he  received  the 
unexpected  information  that  he  had  been  appointed  Indian  Agent 
for  New  Mexico.  This  recognition  of  his  services  in  the  reclam- 
ation of  the  Southwest  was  so  gratifying  that  he  immediately 
sent  to  Washington  his  acceptance  of  the  office,  and  entered  at 
once  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  a  position  he  held  for  sev- 
eral years  and  filled  to  the  eminent  satisfaction  of  both  the  gov- 
ernment and  its  wards. 


LIFE   OF   KIT   CARSON. 


385 


CHAPTER    IX. 
CARSON'S  CAREER  FROM  1862  TO  1866. 

ENERALLY — and  without  pretense  to 
a  complete  or  even  invariably  authen- 
tic history,  because  the  facts  are  not 
always  accessible,  and  tradition  has 
largely  taken  the  place  of  verified 
statements  —  I  have,  in  the  preceding 
chapters  traced  Carson  in  his  adven- 
turous career  as  Indian  fighter,  scout 
and  guide  of  exploring  expeditions. 
We  are  now  to  contemplate  him  in 
charge  of  an  independent  military 
command.  Already  his  name  was 
known  from  the  Yellowstone  to  the 
Spanish  peaks,  and  from  the  Missouri 
to  the  Pacific  as  "  Kit  Carson,  the  daring  scout,"  and  the  fame 
of  his  exploits  was  as  wide  as  the  extent  of  the  Union  itself. 

In  1862  he  was  entrusted  with  an  important  command  against 
some  of  the  turbulent  and  thieving  Indian  tribes  of  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona,  in  which,  it  will  be  seen,  he  displayed  great  tactical 
skiE,  and  knowledge  of  the  Indian  mode  of  warfare,  which  earned 
for  himself  much  glory  and  the  approval  of  his  superior  in  com- 
mand and  the  government  at  Washington. 

As  no  connected  account  of  this  portion  of  Carson's  life  has 
heretofore  been  written  it  became  necessary  therefore  to  dig  it 
out  from  the  departmental  reports,  and  more  especially  from  the 
report  of  the  Joint  Special  Committee  upon  the  "  Condition  of  the 
Indian  Tribes." 

Early  in  1862,  following  the  raid  of  the  Confederate  General 
Sib  ley,  from  Texas  into  New  Mexico,  the  Indians  of  that  territory 
knowing  that  the  attention  of  the  Federal  troops  could  not  for 
the  time  be  turned  towards  them,  commenced  robbing  the  in- 

25 


386  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

habitants  of  their  stock,  and  killed  and  scalped  a  great  number  of 
people.  These  marauding  bands  consisted  principally  of  the 
Navajoes  on  the  western  side  and  the  Mescalero  Apaches  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  settlement.  Both  of  these  powerful  tribes 
began  their  depredations  at  the  same  time. 

Many  outrages  were  committed  and  the  settlements  were  left 
improviehed.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Stanton  they  were 
entirely  abandoned.  Men,  women,  and  children,  terror  stricken, 
were  forced  to  flee  from  their  homes  to  escape  the  swift  bullet 
and  arrow,  the  gleaming  scalping-knife  and  the  torch  of  the 
stealthy  foe. 

General  James  H.  Carleton,  the  department  commander, 
headquarters  at  Santa  Fe,  resolved  to  punish  and  subdue  these 
hostile  tribes.  For  this  purpose  he  gave  the  command  of  the  first 
regiment  New  Mexican  volunteers  (cavalry)  to  Colonel  Carson, 
and  ordered  him  to  move  immediately  with  five  companies  to  re- 
occupy  Fort  Stanton.  The  Lieutenant-Colonel,  J.  Francisco 
Chaves,  with  four  mounted  companies  of  the  same  regiment,  was 
dispatched  to  the  Navajo  country,  to  establish  Fort  Wingate  on 
the  Gallo.  The  Governor  of  New  Mexico  also  called  out  some 
militia  to  serve  in  the  Navajo  country  and  Col.  West,  commanding 
the  District  of  Arizona,  was  ordered  to  co-operate  with  Carson's 
forces  against  the  enemy.  One  division  was  sent  to  proceed  by 
way  of  Dog  canon  and  operate  to  the  eastward  of  that  noted 
haunt  of  the  Mescaleros.  At  the  same  time  Captain  Roberts 
was  directed  to  start  from  Franklin,  Texas,  proceeding  by  the 
Wacco  Janks,  and  thence  northward  to  cut  off  all  Apaches  found 
in  that  direction.  He  was  to  hold  r,o  council  or  "talks"  with 
the  Indians  but  to  slay  the  warriors  whenever  found;  the  women 
and  children,  however,  were  to  be  made  prisoners. 

BATTLE  WITH  THE  MESCALEROS. 

With  these  forces  co-operating  with  him,  Carson  soon  brought 
the  Mescaleros  to  terms.  His  first  aggressive  movement  was  to 
make  a  dash  into  their  country  and  in  one  small  affair  killed 
Jose  Largo  and  Manuelita,  two  of  the  principal  chiefs,  and  nine 


LIFE   OF  KIT   CARSON.  387 

warriors.     The  pursuit  was  so  swift  that  a  large  number  were 
captured  and  with  their  women  and  children  sent  to  the  fort. 

Of  course,  all  know  the  custom  of  the  nomadic,  roving  tribes 
has  been,  up  to  the  present  time,  to  divide  up  and  flee  into  the 
recesses  of  the  mountains,  until  they  bring  up,  perhaps,  in  the 
territory  of  Old  Mexico,  far  from  their  original  abode.  In  this 
mode  of  warfare  they  elude  the  vigilance  of  their  pursuers  and 
place  at  naught  the  best  laid  plans  for  their  destruction.  The 
only  show  of  success  is  to  suddenly  surprise  them  in  their  camps 
of  skin  lodges,  or  meet  them  in  organized  bodies  when  the  supe- 
rior discipline  of  the  whites  is  generally  successful  in  overcoming 
largely  superior  numbers.  Colonel  Carson's  campaign  against 
the  MescalerOs  lasted  till  the  middle  of  January,  when  they  were 
completely  subdued.  He  brought  in  to  Fort  Sumner  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  that  tribe.  These  comprised  all  that  were  left 
alive  of  those  Indians  except  a  few  who  either  ran  off  into  Mexico 
or  joined  the  Gila  Apaches.  The  expedition  into  the  Gila  coun- 
try, in  carrying  out  the  plan  of  campaign,  proved  also  quite 
successful.  The  principal  chief,  Mangus  Colorado,  considered 
the  worst  Indian  within  our  territories,  and  one  who  was  the 
cause  of  more  murders  and  of  more  torturings  and  burnings  at 
the  stake  than  all  others  together,  was  killed.  In  another  battle 
a  few  days  after  over  twenty  of  his  followers  were  slain.  The 
war  against  the  Gila  Apaches  continued  until  spring.  Colonel 
Carson  kept  out  strong  detachments  scouting  all  the  time  about 
the  Sacramento  and  Blanco  Mountains.  In  one  of  these  Maj. 
Morrison,  with  Capt.  Pfeiffer's  company,  from  Fort  Stanton  to 
Fort  McRae,  at  San  Nicolas  Spring  came  upon  a  wounded  Mex- 
ican, who  belonged  to  Martin  Lyon's  train  from  Soccoro,  Texas. 
The  train  had  been  attacked  by  Indians  and  nearly  all  the  party 
killed,  he  being  wounded  in  three  places  and  left  for  dead. 
Major  Morrison,  with  Lieutenant  Bargie  and  eighteen  men  went 
in  pursuit,  reaching  the  salt  marshes  at  daybreak,  where  they 
found  ten  wagons  stripped  of  everything  portable,  and  within 
the  circuit  of  three  miles  seven  dead  bodies  of  Mexicans,  dread- 
fully mutilated  and  filled  with  arrows.  Halting  only  long  enough 


388  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

to  bury  the  dead,  they  then  followed  the  trail  of  the  Indians 
towards  the  Sacramento  Mountains  and  the  Sierra  Blanca  until 
noon,  when  they  met  a  party  of  Mexicans  who  had  heard  of  (he 
massacre  from  a  member  of  the  unfortunate  party  who  had 
escaped  and  had  started  out  to  punish  the  perpetrators. 

The  Indians  had  at  this  time  twenty  hours  the  start  and  were 
hidden  in  the  recesses  of  the  Sierra  Blanca.  Major  Morrison 
had  therefore  to  return  to  San  Nicolas  Spring,  having  traveled 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  without  accomplishing  the  prime  ob- 
ject of  his  pursuit,  but  he  surprised  another  hostile  party  and 
killed  forty-five  of  their  number. 

EXPEDITION    AGAINST    THE    NAVAJOES. 

The  main  bands  of  the  Mescaleros  having  been  broken  up, 
Colonel  Carson  was  ordered  to  send  an  expedition  against  the 
Navajoes.  He  employed  one  hundred  Ute  Indians  as  guides  and 
auxiliaries.  General  Carleton  urged  the  importance  of  time. 
"Make  every  string  draw/'  said  he  to  Carson.  "  Much  is  ex- 
pected of  you,  both  here  and  in  Washington." 

August  20th,  Carson  set  out  with  his  command  for  the  Navajo 
country  from  Fort  Canby,  while  Major  Willis,  with  two  com- 
panies from  Fort  Wingate,  marched  out  to  co-operate  with  him. 
Another  force  was  ordered  to  guard  a  pass  of  the  Jemez  Moun- 
tains known  as  El  -Valle  Grand,  to  prevent  stock  being  driven 
through  that  noted  thoroughfare.  Still  another  force  was  posted  at 
Cebola  Springs,  west  of  Limitar,  and  some  smaller  detachments 
were  employed  in  scouting  the  country  east  of  the  Kio  Grande 
from  Forts  Bascom,  Sumner  and  Stanton,  and  from  Albuquerque 
and  Los  Pinos. 

In  spite  of  these  precautions,  small  parties  of  Navajoes  and 
Apaches,  invariably  well  mounted,  were  ranging  about  the  coun- 
try, robbing  and  committing  depredations.  So  bold  had  these 
marauding  parties  become  that  a  trail  of  two  hundred  Navajoes 
going  south  was  seen  by  a  gentleman  after  Carson's  command 
had  passed.  The  trail  was  fresh,  as  seen  near  Laguna.  The 
Navajoes,  about  the  same  time,  run  off  eight  thousand  sheep 


LIFE    OF    KIT    C ARSON. 


389 


from  Beguin  Valley,  near  Fort  Union.  The  mountains  in  the 
Navajo  country  were  difficult  of  penetration  by  troops,  the  In- 
dians being  scattered  over  a  country  several  hundred  miles  in 
extent.  There  are  canons  thirty  miles  in  length,  with  walls  a 
thousand  feet  high,  and  at  times  have  been  so  well  guarded  that 
it  had  been  found  extremely  dangerous  for  even  a  large  army  to 


IN   THE    CANON   DE    CHELLY. 

force  a  passage  through  them.  In  the  main  canon,  de  Chelly, 
previous  expeditions  had  been  frustrated.  Col.  Sumner,  in  the 
fall  of  1851,  penetrated  the  Canon  de  Chelly  with  several  hun- 
dred men  and  two  pieces  of  artillery.  He  got  into  the  defile 
sonre  eight  or  ten  miles,  but  was  compelled  to  retreat  out  of  it 
at  night.  General  Canby  also  undertook  to  enter  the  canon,  but 
was  forced  to  back  out  of  it  the  noxt  morning.  The  Indians 


390  STORY   OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

that  occupy  these  haunts  hare  regular  fortifications,  averaging 
from  one  to  two  hundred  feet  in  height,  pierced  with  port-holes 
for  firing.  No  small  arms  can  reach  them  and  artillery  cannot 
be  used  against  such  defenses. 

A    WONDERFUL    CAMPAIGN. 

With  a  knowledge  of  the  exact  situation  of  the  theater  of  war, 
Colonel  Carson  concerted  his  measures  so  ably  and  judiciously 
that  he  effected  his  object  without  any  serious  loss  of  men  or 
bloodshed.  Without  exposing  his  forces  to  the  danger  of  having 
their  brains  dashed  out  by  rocks  hurled  down  on  them  from 
towering  precipices,  he  adopted  the  starving  out  process.  Re- 
garding the  canons  as  impregnable,  he  waited  till  about  the  6th 
of  January,  after  a  heavy  snowfall,  having  first  destroyed  the 
crops  and  every  means  for  the  enemy's  subsistence,  and  then 
laid  siege  to  the  Indians  with  the  intention  of  starving  them  out 
of  their  fastnesses. 

He  continued  active  operations,  however,  and  while  holding  the 
Indians  within  their  defenses,  occasionally  fell  upon  an  exposed 
party.  As  the  expeditionary  force  waded  through  the  deep 
enow  the  following  were  the  more  notable  happenings  in  the 
Canon  de  Chelly.  On  the  8th  instant,  one  warrior  was  killed  by 
the  Colonel's  escort.  On  the  12th,  Sergeant  Andres  Herrera, 
with  fifty  men,  who  was  sent  out  the  previous  night,  returned, 
bringing  into  camp  two  men,  two  women  and  two  children,  pris- 
oners, and  one  hundred  and  thirty  head  of  sheep  and  goats,  and 
reported  that  his  men  had  killed  eleven  and  wounded  five  Indians. 
On  the  14th,  Captain  Pfeiffer  and  party,  who  had  been  sent  out 
from  Fort  Canby,  some  five  days  in  advance,  to  operate  in  the 
east  opening  of  the  canon,  came  into  camp  and  reported  having 
passed  through  the  canon  without  a  single  casualty  to  his  com- 
mand. He  killed  three  Indians  and  brought  in  nineteen  prison- 
ers. On  the  15th  instant  sixty  Indians  arrived  in  camp 
and  surrendered  themselves  as  prisoners.  On  the  same  day 
a  party  under  command  of  Captain  Joseph  Berney  killed 
two  Indians  and  captured  four.  One  hundred  and  ten  Indians 


LIFE    OF    KIT    CARSON.  391 

surrendered  to  Captflin  Carey's  command  while  on  its  return 
march  to  Fort  Canby.  Result  of  this  expedition:  Indians 
killed,  twenty-three;  wounded,  five;  prisoners,  thirty-four 
taken  in  battle;  voluntarily  surrendered,  two  hundred,  and 
two  hundred  sheep  and  goats  captured.  It  took  three  hun- 
dred men  most  of  one  day  to  destroy  a  field  of  corn.  In  the  main 
Canon  de  Chelly  3,000  peach  trees  were  destroyed  by  the  troops. 
The  consequence  of  this  destruction  of  crops  and  fruit  trees  was 
to  render  the  country  a  desolation,  so  as  to  force  the  .Navajoes  to 
abandon  their  homes  and  come  in.  The  first  batch  of  Navajo 
prisoners  was  conducted  to  Santa  Fe,  and  thence  they  were  sent 
to  the  Bosque  Redondo,  on  the  Lower  Pecos,  a  reservation  of 
some  forty  square  miles  in  extent,  voted  by  the  Legislature  of 
New  Mexico  and  intended  to  be  set  apart  as  the  homes  of  the 
Mescal ero  Apaches  and  the  Navajoes.  Some  of  the  captured 
chiefs,  with  Jesus,  the  interpreter,  were  sent  back  to  the  Nava- 
joes' country  to  let  others  know  what  treatment  they  received  and 
what  kind  of  a  place  they  were  expected  to  move  to.  Numbers 
embraced  the  offer  held  out  and  forsook  their  country  without 
offering  further  opposition.  But  with  those  determined  to  re- 
main numerous  skirmishes  and  fights  took  place.  A  sharp  bat- 
tle was  fought  within  thirty- five  miles  of  Fort  Sumner,  with 
130  Navajo  Indians,  on  the  open  plains.  Twelve  Navajoes  were 
left  dead  on  the  field.  Two  Apache  chiefs,  Cadella  and  Blanco, 
distinguished  themselves  as  allies  on  the  side  of  Carson's  troops 
against  the  Navajoes  in  this  fight.  Only  the  year  before  they 
themselves  had  been  captured  on  the  war-path. 

CARSON    SPECIALLY    COMPLIMENTED. 

Colonel  Carson  was  highly  complimented  by  the  commander 
of  the  department  for  his  success  in  marching  his  command 
through  the  deep  snows  in  the  dead  of  winter  and  making  a 
passage  of  the  celebrated  Canon  de  Chelly,  the  great  stronghold  of 
the  Navajo  tribe,  and  for  his  success  in  killing  and  capturing 
large  numbers  of  the  enemy,  besides  forcing  them,  by  his  system 
of  warfare,  to  eventually  come  in  and  surrender  themselves.  In 


392  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

his  report  of  operations  to  Washington  General  Carleton  says : 
66  This  is  the  first  time  any  troops,  whether  when  the  country  be- 
longed to  Mexico,  or  since  we  acquired  it,  have  been  able  to  pass 
through  the  Canon  de  Chelly,  which  for  its  great  depth,  its 
length,  its  perpendicular  walls  and  its  labyrinthine  character,  has 
been  regarded  by  eminent  geologists  as  the  most  remarkable  of 
any  fissure  (for  such  it  is  held  to  be)  upon  the  face  of  the  globe. 
It  has  been  the  great  fortress  of  the  tribe  since  time  out  of  mind. 
To  this  point  they  fled  when  pressed  by  our  troops.  Colonel 
Washington,  Colonel  Sumner,  and  many  other  commanders  have 
made  an  attempt  to  go  through  it,  but  had  to  retrace  their  steps. 
It  was  reserved  for  Colonel  Carson  to  be  the  first  to  succeed ;  and 
I  respectfully  request  that  the  government  will  favorably  notice 
that  officer,  and  give  him  a  substantial  reward  for  this  crowning 
act  in  a  long  life  spent  in  various  capacities,  in  the  service  of 
his  country,  in  fighting  the  savages  among  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains." 


SUBMISSION   OF   THE    NAVAJOES. 

This  expedition  of  Colonel  Carson  was  fruitful  of  the  most 
perfect  success.  The  Navajoes  from  time  to  time,  though  not 
without  numerous  brisk  skirmishes  and  many  fatalities  to  both 
sides,  finally  unconditionally  surrendered  and  were  given  new 
homes  on  the  Bosque  Redondo,  their  numbers  amounting  in  all 
to  about  seven  thousand  persons. 

Thus  Colonel  Carson,  by  multiplying  as  much  as  possible  the 
points  of  attack,  and  although  no  great  battle  was  fought,  still 
the  persistent  pounding  away  of  small  parties,  acting  simultane- 
ously over  a  large  space,  destroyed  a  great  many  hostile  Indians 
and  harassed  the  survivors  until  they  became  thoroughly  broken 
up  and  subdued.  In  looking  back  to  the  result,  it  has  been  well 
said  by  General  Carleton  that  "the  exodus  of  a  whole  people 
from  the  land  of  their  .fathers  was  not  only  a  touching,  but  an 
interesting  sight.  The  Navajoes  fought  us  gallantly  for  years, 
they  defended  their  mountains  and  their  stupendous  canons  with 
a  heroism  which  any  people  might  be  proud  to  emulate.  At 


LIFE    OF    KIT    CARSOX.  393 

length  they  had  to  abandon  their  beautiful  country,  their  homes, 
their  associations  and  the  bones  of  their  kindred  to  the  insatiable 
progress  of  the  white  race."  After  the  larger  portion  had  sur- 
rendered, Colonel  Carson  was  ordered  to  come  in  from  the  Nav- 
ajo  country  and  proceed  to  the  Bosque  Redondo  to  give  the 
Indians  the  counsel  they  were  so  much  in  need  of,  how  to  start 
their  farm  and  to  commence  their  new  mode  of  life.  This,  from 
his  long  experience  of  Indian  life,  no  man  was  better  capable  of 
performing. 

While  Carson  was  engaged  in  this  work,  his  regiment  was  still 
active  in  hurrying  up  the  reluctant  Navajoes. 

CARSON    RECOMMENDS    THE    RESERVATION   SYSTEM. 

In  July,  Lieutenant  Abeyta,  while  en  route  with  twenty- six 
Navajoes  and  seven  Apache  Indian  prisoners,  came  upon  a  party 
of  Navajoes  at  Fish  Spring,  numbering  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  warriors  coming  in  to  surrender  themselves  and  go 
to  the  reservation.  They  had  in  their  possession  three  hundred 
horses,  sixteen  mules,  one  thousand  and  eighty-five  sheep  and 
three  hundred  and  fifty  goats.  August  1,  twelve  hundred  and 
nine  Navajoes  and  twelve  Apaches  left  Los  Pinos  for  the  Bosque 
Redondo.  These  Indians  had  in  their  possession  three  hundred 
and  fifty-seven  horses,  nineteen  mules  and  two  thousand  and  five 
sheep  ami  goats.  This  is  but  a  sample  of  this  Indian  hegira, 
caused  by  military  pressure  and  without  much  fighting,  carrying 
out  the  system  inaugurated  by  Carson.  Having  campaigned 
against  them  eight  months,  finding  them  scattered  over  a  country 
several  hundred  miles  in  extent,  Carson  considered  the  reserva- 
tion system  as  the  only  one  to  be  adopted  for  tlum.  In  his 
testimony  beforeDoolittle's  committee  he  told  the  members  if  the 
Navajoes  "  were  sent  back  to  their  own  country  to-morrow  it 
would  not  be  a  month  before  hostilities  would  commence  again." 
A  part  of  the  Navajoes,  he  said,  were  wealthy  and  wished  to  live 
in  peace  ;  but  the  poorer  classes  were  in  the  majority  and  they 
have  no  chiefs  who  can  control  them.  He  knew  that  even  before 
the  acquisition  of  New  Mexico  there  had  always  existed  a  heredi- 


394  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

tary  warfare  between  the  Navajoes  and  the  Mexicans.  Forays 
were  made  into  each  other's  country  and  stock,  women  and  chil- 
dren stolen.  Since  the  acquisition  the  same  state  has  existed. 
We  would  hardly  get  back  from  fighting  and  making  peace  with 
them  before  they  would  be  at  war  again.  In  this  connection,  it 
may  be  added,  though  somewhat  in  anticipation  of  the  order  of 
time,  that  the  Navajoes  at  length  became  discontented  and  longed 
to  go  back  to  their  old  country,  so  unhappy  had  they  become, 
and  on  representations  to  that  effect  made  at  Washington,  the 
Indian  Peace  Commission,  in  the  spring  of  1868,  sent  two  of 
their  number,  Gen.  Sherman  and  Col.  Tappan,  to  visit  the  Nav- 
ajoes and  report  the  condition  of  the  tribe.  They  did  so  and 
recommended  that  they  be  sent  back  to  their  former  homes,  some 
four  hundred  miles  from  the  Bosque  Eedondo,  which  was  accord- 
ingly done. 

WAR   WITH    THE    KIOWAS. 

But  the  services  of  Col.  Carson  were  again  needed  in  the  field, 
to  crush  and  put  a  stop  to  the  depredations  of  marauding  bands 
of  Cheyennes,  Kiowas  and  Comanches  on  the  plains.  Early  in 
the  spring  of  1865  he  was  ordered,  with  three  companies,  to 
proceed  from  Fort  Union,  New  Mexico,  to  Cedar  Bluffs  or  Cold 
Spring,  on  the  Cimaron  route,  to  the  States  and  there  establish 
a  fortified  camp.  The  object  in  establishing  a  post  at  that  dan- 
gerous part  of  the  route  was  in  order  to  give  protection  to  trains 
passing  to  and  from  the  States.  The  Indians  on  the  plains  had 
for  some  time  been  harassing  government  trains  and  citizens 
going  out  with  supplies.  An  expedition  was  therefore  planned 
by  Col.  Carson  to  punish  the  Indians.  The  Kiowas  had  been  the 
most  hostile,  committing  numerous  murders  as  well  as  capturing 
and  spoiling  government  trains,  and  against  these  Carson  first 
directed  his  forces.  He  soon  found  an  opportunity  to  strike  a 
blow  on  the  enemy's  camp  near  the  adobe  fort  on  the  Canadian 
River  in  Texas.  Carson's  force  consisted  of  the  first  cavalry, 
New  Mexico  volunteers  The  command  numbered  fourteen  com- 
missioned officers,  three  hundred  and  twenty-one  enlisted  men 
and  seventy-five  friendly  Indians.  With  these  he  attacked  the 


396  STORY   OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 

Kiowa  village  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  lodges.  The  fight 
was  a  severe  one  and  lasted  from  half  past  eight  in  the  morning 
till  sun  down.  The  Indians,  with  more  than  ordinary  intrepidity 
and  boldness,  made  repeated  stands  against  the  fierce  onslaughts 
of  Carson's  brave  cavalrymen,  but  were  at  last  forced  to  give 
way  and  were  hewn  down  as  they  stubbornly  retreated.  The 
Kiowas  suffered  a  loss  of  sixty  killed  and  wounded.  In  this  fight 
only  two  privates  were  killed  and  Corporal  Newman  and  nine 
privates,  with  four  Utes,  were  wounded.  The  command  destroy- 
ed one  hundred  and  fifty  lodges  of  the  best  manufacture,  a  large 
amount  of  dried  meats,  berries,  buffalo  robes,  powder,  cooking 
utensils,  etc.,  also  a  buggy  and  spring  wagon,  the  property  of 
Sierrito,  or  Little  Mountain,  the  Kiowa  chief. 

Col.  Carson,  in  his  report  of  the  baUle;  states  that  he  found 
powder  and  lead  in  the  Kiowa  camp,  which  had  been  furnished, 
no  doubt,  by  unscrupulous  Mexican  traders.  The  gallant  Carson 
was  thanked  in  general  orders  for  the  handsome  manner  in  which 
he  met  so  formidable  an  enemy  and  defeatc  I  him.  "  This  brill- 
iant affair,"  remarked  the  General  in  command  to  Carson, 
"adds  another  green  leaf  to  the  laurel  wreath  which  you  have 
so  nobly  won  in  the  service  of  yo^r  country." 

CARSON   BRINGS   THE    GREAT   TRIBES    INTO    COUNCIL. 

Owing  to  his  great  knowledge  of  the  Indians,  and  what  was 
desired  of  them  on  the  part  of  the  government,  he  was  in  August 
1865  appointed  by  Secretary  Stanton,  at  the  request  of  the  Con- 
gressional Committee,  special  commissioner,  with  power  to  hold 
councils  and  make  preliminary  arrangements  with  the  Comanches, 
Kiowas,  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes,  for  holding  a  conference  with 
the  peace  commissioners  with  the  view  of  settling  all  differences. 
Carson  was  given  an  escort  by  General  Carleton,  and  the  latter 
requested  him  to  look  over  the  country  passed  through  with  an 
eye  to  the  selection  of  a  suitable  site  for  the  establishing  of  a 
ten-company  post  with  six  companies  of  calvary,  which  it  was 
found  necessary  to  build  in  the  country  occupied  by  the  Kiowas 
and  Coraanches  during:  winter. 


397 


398  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

In  this  hazardous  mission  Carson  passed  over  the  country  be- 
tween Taos  and  Fort  Union,  New  Mexico,  and  Fort  Lyon,  Col- 
orado. At  the  latter  post  he  found  time  to  write  a  very  excellent 
letter  to  the  Congressional  Committee,  in  answer  to  their  interro- 
gatories concerning  Indian  affairs.  He  was  opposed  to  the  old  idea 
of  forcing  the  Indians  westward,  as  since  the  discovery  of  the 
California  gold-fields  civilization  had  encircled  them  with  its  chain 
of  progress.  Each  year  sees  the  chain  drawing  rapidly  closer 
around  the  hunting  ground  of  the  red  men  of  the  prairie .  ' '  As , " 
said  Carson,  "  humanity  shuddered  at  the  picture  cf  their  exter- 
mination, I  favor  placing  them  on  reservations,  under  wise  rules, 
enforced  by  military  power."  As  a  result  of  Carson's  mission 
among  the  plains  Indians,  and  his  recommendation  as  to  their 
treatment,  may  be  traced  the  assembling  of  the  great  council  at 
Medicine  Lodge  Creek,  a  year  or  two  later,  and  the  adoption  of 
the  reservation  system,  as  approved  by  the  Indian  Peace  Com- 
missioners. 

THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  CARSON. 

After  the  close  of  the  rebellion  and  removal  of  the  Navajoes  to 
appointed  reservations  Carson  continued  to  fill  the  position  of 
Indian  agent,  with  credit  to  the  government  and  perfect  satis- 
faction to  the  Indians.  In  January,  1868,  he  was  called  to 
Washington  to  give  evidence  and  advice  in  a  matter  of  dispute 
between  the  government  and  Apaches,  and  was  accompanied  on 
the  trip  by  a  deputation  from  that  tribe.  His  coming  was  her- 
alded in  advance  and  several  trades  bodies  in  cities  along  his 
route  besought  of  him  the  favor  of  a  short  visit,  many  of  which 
urgent  invitations  he  accepted.  His  journey  was  more  like  a 
triumphal  tour  of  some  proclaimed  hero  fresh  from  the  field  of 
decisive  battle,  for  everywhere  along  his  route  flags  were  flung 
to  the  breeze  and  cities  put  on  a  holiday  attire  as  a  token  of  the 
admiration  generally  felt  for  his  character  as  a  man  and  heroism 
as  an  Indian  fighter. 

Carson  returned  from  Washington  some  time  in  March  in  good 
health  and  highly  elated  over  the  adoption  of  pacificatory  meas- 
ures he  had  proposed  for  settling  disputes  that  had  arisen  over 


LIFE    OP   KIT    CARSON.  399 

the  removal  of  the  Apaches  to  their  present  reservation.  But 
in  the  hour  of  quiet  content  and  satisfaction  with  attained  am- 
bition, a  stronger  foe  than  he  had  ever  met  in  battle  appeared 
before  Carson  to  oppose  his  further  progress,  though  it  could 
not  wrest  from  his  brow  the  laurel  that  a  grateful  country  had 
placed  there.  The  angel  of  death  stole  upon  him  with  the  stealth 
of  a  burglar,  and  with  scarce  a  warning  struck  him  down  in  the 
very  flush  of  health  and  vigorous  manhood.  On  the  23d  of  May, 
1868,  during  a  visit  to  his  son  at  Ft.  Lyons,  Colorado,  while  in 
the  act  of  mounting  his  horse  an  artery  in  his  neck  was  ruptured, 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  died  in  a  few  moments. 

In  Carson's  death  the  country  lost  its  most  distinguished 
representative  of  the  intrepid  race  of  mountaineers,  and  its  most 
noted  trapper,  guide,  pioneer  and  Indian  fighter.  As  a  frontiers- 
man, in  all  honorable  characteristics,  he  had  no  superiors,  if  in- 
deed his  equal  ever  lived.  His  reputation  is  not  tainted  with  the 
moral  stains  that  cloud  the  names  of  so  many  Western  men  who 
marched  in  the  van  of  civilization,  for  he  was  neither  a  murderer 
nor  a  brawler,  but  always  a  gentleman  where  gentleness  was  per- 
missible and  courageous  in  defense  of  the  weak,  bold  in  main- 
tenance of  the  right,  faithful  to  every  trust,  true  to  his  friends, 
magnanimous  under  all  circumstances,  and  as  quick  to  forgive  an 
injury  as  to  avenge  a  brutal  insult.  The  world  can  ill  afford  to 
lose  so  good  a  man. 


400 


HON.    W.    F.    CODY,    (BUFFALO    BILL.) 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

OF 

BUFFALO   BILL 


CHAPTER    I. 

INCIDENTS    OF   MY   CHILDHOOD. 

?FTER  describing  the  stirring  incidents  in 
the  lives  of  America's  most  renowned 
pioneers,  Boone,  Crockett  and  Carson, 
it  is  with  some  feeling  of  embarrass- 
ment and  trepidation  that  I  trench  so 
far  upon  the  borders  of  apparent  van- 
ity as  to  classify  myself  with  such  dis- 
tinguished characters  in  the  great  work 
of  redeeming  to  civilization  the  terri- 
tory lying  west  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley. Nor  would  I  make  so  bold  a  dis- 
play of  self-complacency  or  venture  to  obtrude  myself  so  promi- 
nently before  the  world's  audience,  where  critics  are  more  prompt 
to  cavil  than  my  readers  may  be  disposed  to  applaud,  but  for 
the  fact  that  many  requests  have  been  made  for  the  story  of  my 
life  written  by  my  own  hand,  that  the  public  may  discover  the 
truth  and  falsehood  of  the  numerous  exploits  that  have  been  at- 
tributed to  me.  While  this  may  not  be  a  sufficient  excuse  for  this 
autobiography,  it  appears  so  to  me,  and  I  therefore  set  myself 
to  the  far  from  pleasing  task  of  describing  the  vicissitudes  of  my 
somewhat  eventful  life,  which  have  been  strangely  mixed  with 
the  ingredients  of  opposing  circumstance  and  happy  fortune. 

26  401 


402  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

I  made  my  debut  upon  the  stage  of  life  February  26th,  1845. 
The  scene  of  this  extremely  important  event,  to  me,  was  a  little 
log  cabin  situated  in  the  backwoods  of  Scott  County,  Iowa,  where 
opportunities  were  few  and  society  was  in  a  state  of  embryo,  as 
the  settling  up  of  that  State  was  just  then  beginning.  My 
father,  Isaac,  and  mother,  Mary  Ann,  were  honest  folks,  but 
their  possessions  comprehended  scarcely  anything  more  than 
good  characters  and  eight  children,  of  which  latter  I  was  fourth 
in  rank.  I  was  christened  William  Frederick,  which  name  I 
have  never  discarded,  though  more  than  once  in  my  life  I  would 
have  found  it  convenient,  and  decidedly  to  my  comfort,  to  be 
known,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  as  some  other  fellow. 

If  in  early  youth  I  was  different  from  other  boys  it  was  be- 
cause I  was  without  example  and  not  from  any  inherent  distin- 
guishing characteristics.  Playmates  I  had  none,  save  among  my 
brothers,  and  of  these  there  were  only  two,  one  of  whom  was  too 
young  to  appreciate  my  ambitions  and  the  other  too  old  to  in- 
dulge my  fancies.  Accordingly,  we  were  forced  to  the  rather 
unsatisfactory  compromise  of  feach  brother  playing  by  himself,  a 
condition  very  harmful  in  the  raising  of  a  large  family. 

My  father  did  not  make  a  successful  farmer,  and  when  I  waa 
five  years  of  age  he  abandoned  the  log  cabin  of  my  nativity  and 
moved  the  family  to  a  little  village  fifteen  miles  north  of  Daven- 
port, on  the  Mississippi  River,  named  LeClair.  A  year  before 
this  removal  he  became  so  seriously  affected  by  the  California 
fever  that  he  resolved  to  emigrate  to  that  exciting  climate  of 
gold,  flowers,  oranges,  sweet  odors  and  fighting  whisky.  A 
party  was  organized,  an  outfit  provided  and  a  start  was  made, 
but  after  proceeding  some  fifty  miles  on  the  way  they  all  thought 
it  best  to  change  their  former  determination  before  increasing 
the  distance  from  home,  and  carried  this  idea  so  far  and  success- 
fully that  every  one  in  the  party  returned  to  their  respective 
habitations. 

At  LeClair  I  was  sent  to  a  school  where,  by  diligence  and 
fairly  good  conduct  I  managed  to  familiarize  myself  with  the 
alphabet,  but  further  progress  was  arrested  by  a  suddenly  de- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  403 

reloped  love  for  skiff-riding  on  the  Mississippi,  which  occupied 
so  much  of  my  time  thereafter  that  really  I  found  no  convenient 
opportunity  for  further  attendance  at  school,  though  neither  my 
father  nor  mother  had  the  slightest  idea  of  my  new  found,  self- 
imposed,  employment,  much  to  my  satisfaction,  let  me  add. 
When  I  was  thrown  in  the  society  of  other  boys  I  was  not  slow 
to  follow  their  example,  and  I  take  to  myself  no  special  credit 
for  my  conduct  as  a  town-boy;  for,  like  the  majority,  I  foraged 
among  neighboring  orchards  and  melon  patches,  rode  horses 
when  I  was  able  to  catch  them  grazing  on  the  commons,  trapped 
innocent  birds,  and  sometimes  tied  the  exposed  clothes  of  my 
comrades  while  they  were  in  swimming  and  least  suspicious  of 
my  designs  or  acts.  I  would  not  like  to  admit  any  greater 
crimes,  though  anything  may  be  implied  in  the  confession  that  I 
was  quite  as  bad,  though  no  worse,  than  the  ordinary  every-day 
boy  who  goes  barefoot,  wears  a  brimless  hat,  one  suspender  and 
a  mischievous  smile. 

REMOVAL  TO   KANSAS. 

Shortly  after  my  father's  removal  to  LeClairhe  became  a  stage- 
driver  on  the  line  between  Davenport  and  Chicago,  but  he  had 
not  followed  this  occupation  long  when  he  was  chosen  a  justice 
>f  the  peace,  and  soon  after  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  po- 
sitions which  reflected  honor  rather  than  material  profit. 
[e  was  a  very  popular  man  and  I  may  with  justice 
ilso  add  that  he  possessed  considerable  ability  for  the 
meager  opportunities  he  had  received.  But  he  was  a  natural 
pioneer  and  his  longing  for  new  fields  of  adventure  led  him  away 
from  the  place  where  his  popularity  was  rapidly  extending,  and 
to  the  wilds  of  what  was  then  the  far  West.  Following  the 
bent  of  his  inclination,  in  the  spring  of  1852  he  disposed  of  a 
small  farm  he  owned  at  Walnut  Grove,  and  packing  his  posses- 
sions in  one  carriage  and  three  wagons  he  started  with  his  fam- 
ily for  the  territory  of  Kansas.  Father  had  a  brother,  Elijah, 
living  at  that  time  at  Weston,  Platte  County,  Missouri,  near 
the  Kansas  line,  and  as  he  was  a  well-to-do  merchant  of  the 


404  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

place,  father  concluded  to  stop  with  him  awhile  until  he  could 
decide  upon  a  desirable  location  in  the  territory.  The  overland 
trip  was  an  uneventful  one,  save  as  it  gave  me  an  opportunity 
for  seeing  a  large  stretch  of  uninhabited  wilderness,  and  the  meet- 
ing of  several  rough  characters  on  the  route  of  which  we  stood 
in  no  small  dread,  and  afforded  me  my  first  sight  of  a  negro. 
When  within  twenty  miles  of  Weston  we  asked  permission  to 
stop  at  a  farm-house  owned  by  a  widow  lady,  but  owing  to  the 
feeling  of  insecurity  excited  by  frequent  acts  of  pillage  and  out- 
rage committed  by  a  bad  class  of  emigrants,  our  request  was 
refused  until,  by  chance,  my  father  mentioned  his  brother's 
name,  when  a  conversation  was  begun  that  resulted  in  a 
hospitable  welcome  from  the  widow,  whose  name  was  Burnes,  and 
who  was  well  acquainted  with  my  uncle  Elijah.  We  stopped  at 
the  farm-house  a  day  and  were  regaled  with  many  good  things, 
among  which  was  wheat-bread,  something  that  I  had  not  before 
eaten  nor  ever  heard  of,  as  corn-dodger  had  always  been  the 
chief  staff  of  our  frugal  lives. 

On  the  following  day  father  and  mother  drove  over  to  Weston 
in  the  carriage  and  in  the  evening  returned  with  Elijah,  who  was 
very  glad  to  see  us  and  who  took  us  to  his  home  in  Weston  where 
we  remained  for  some  time.  Father  did  not  tarry  long,  but 
crossed  over  into  Kansas,  on  a  prospecting  tour,  hoping  to  find 
a  place  in  which  to  settle  his  family.  He  visited  the  Kickapoo 
agency  in  Leavenworth  County  and  soon  after  established  a  trad- 
ing post  at  Salt  Creek  Valley,  within  four  miles  of  the  agency. 
Having  thus  entered  into  business,  he  settled  his  family  on  a  farm 
belonging  to  Elijah,  three  miles  from  Weston,  intending  that 
we  should  remain  here  until  the  territory  was  opened  up  for  setx 
tlement. 

BOYHOOD   DAYS    IN    KANSAS. 

At  this  time  Kansas  was  occupied  by  numerous  tribes  of  In- 
dians who  were  settled  on  reservations,  and  through  the  territory 
ran  the  great  highway  to  California  and  Salt  Lake  City.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  thousands  of  gold-seekers  who  were  passing  through 
Kansas  by  way  of  Ft.  Leavenworth,  there  were  as  many 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  405 

Mormons  on  their  hegira  from  Illinois  to  found  a  new  temple  in 
which  to  propagate  their  doctrines.  This  extensive  travel  made 
the  business  of  trade  on  the  route  a  most  profitable  one.  But 
with  the  caravans  were  those  fractious  elements  of  adventurous 
pioneering,  and  here  I  first  saw  the  typical  Westerner,  with  white 
sombrero,  buckskin  clothes,  long  hair,  moccasined  feet  and  a 
belt  full  of  murderous  bowies  and  long  pistols.  But  instead  of 
these  outre  peculiarities  impressing  me  with  feelings  of  trepida- 
tion, they  inspired  me  with  an  ambition  to  become  a  daring 
plainsman.  The  rare  and  skillful  feats  of  horsemanship  which  I 
daily  witnessed  bred  in  me  a  desire  to  excel  the  most  expert ; 
and  when,  at  seven  years  of  age  my  father  gave  me  a  pony,  the 
full  measure  of  my  happiness  had  ripened,  like  Jonah's  gourd, 
in  a  night.  Thenceforth  my  occupation  was  horseback  riding,  in 
which  pleasurable  employment  I  made  myself  useful  in  perform- 
ing necessary  journeys  in  father's  interest. 

In  anticipation  of  the  early  passage  of  what  was  known  as  the 
"  Enabling  Act  of  Kansas  Territory,"  which  was  then  pending 
before  Congress,  my  father,  in  the  fall  of  1853,  took  his  family 
from  the  farm  of  his  brother  and  settled  them  at  the  post  in  Kan- 
sas, where  he  at  once  set  about  erecting  suitable  log  buildings. 
In  the  succeeding  winter  the  act  was  passed  which  opened  up 
the  territory  for  settlement,  and  father  immediately  pre-empted 
the  claim  on  which  he  was  living. 

During  the  summer  of  this  year  we  lived  in  our  little  log 
house,  and  father  continued  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  who  be- 
came very  friendly ;  hardly  a  day  passed  without  a  social  visit 
from  them.  I  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  with  the  Indian  boys,  who 
taught  me  how  to  shoot  with  the  bow  and  arrow,  at  which  I  be- 
came quite  expert.  I  also  took  part  in  all  their  sports,  and 
learned  to  talk  the  Kickapoo  language  to  some  extent. 

Father  desired  to  express  his  friendship  for  these  Indians,  and 
accordingly  arranged  a  grand  barbecue  for  them.  He  invited 
them  all  to  be  present  on  a  certain  day,  which  they  were;  he 
then  presented  them  with  two  fat  beeves,  to  be  killed  and  cooked 
in  the  various  Indian  styles.  Mother  made  several  large  boilers 


406 


STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


full  of  coffee,  which  she  gave  to  them,  together  with  sugar  and 
bread.  There  were  about  two  hundred  Indians  in  attendance  at 
the  feast,  and  they  all  enjoyed  and  appreciated  it.  In  the  even- 
ing they  had  one  of  their  grand  fantastic  war  dances,  which 
greatly  amused  me,  it  being  the  first  sight  of  the  kind  I  had  ever 
witnessed. 

My  Uncle  Elijah  and  quite  a  large  number  of  gentlemen  and 
ladies  came  over  from  Weston  to  attend  the  entertainment. 

The    Indians    returned  to   their 
homes  well  satisfied. 

My  uncle  at  that  time  owned  a 
trading  post  at  Silver  Lake,  in 
the  Pottawattamie  country,  on 
the  Kansas  river,  and  he  arranged 
an  excursion  to  that  place. 
Among  the  party  were  several 
ladies  from  Weston,  and  father, 
mother  and  myself.  Mr.  Mc- 
Meekan,  my  uncle's  superin- 
tendent, who  had  come  to  Weston 
for  supplies,  conducted  the  party 
to  the  post. 

The  trip  across  the  prairies 
was  a  delightful  one  and  we  re- 
mained at  the  post  several  days. 
Father  and  one  or  two  of  the 
men  went  on  to  Fort  Riley  to 
view  the  country,  and  upon  their  return  my  uncle  entertained  the 
Pottawattamie  Indians  with  a  barbecue  similar  to  the  one  given 
by  father  to  the  Kickapoos. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  father  filled  a  hay  con- 
tract at  Fort  Leavenworth.  I  passed  much  of  my  time  among 
the  campers,  and  spent  days  and  days  in  rL  ng  over  .the  country 
with  Mr.  William  Russell,  who  was  engaged  in  the  freighting 
business  and  who  seemed  to  take  a  considerable  interest  in  me. 
In  this  way  I  became  acquainted  with  many  wagon-masters, 


STAKING   OUT  CLAIMS. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


407 


hunters  and  teamsters,  and  learned  a  great  deal  about  the  busi- 
ness of  handling  cattle  and  mules. 

It  was  an  excellent  school  for  me,  and  I  acquired  a  great  deal 
of  practical  knowledge,  which  afterwards  I  found  to  be  of  in- 
valuable service,  for  it  was  not  long  before  I  became  employed 
by  Majors  &  Russell,  remaining  with  them  in  different  capacities 
for  several  years. 

The  winter  of  1853-54  was  spent  by  father  at  our  little  prairie 
home  in  cutting  house  logs  and  fence  rails,  which  he  intended 
to  use  on  his  farm,  as  soon  as  the  bill  for  the  opening  of 
the  territory  should  pass.  This  bill,  which  was  called  the 
"  Enabling  act  of  Kansas  territory,"  was  passed  in  April,  1854, 
and  as  before  stated  father  immediately  pre-empted  the  claim  on 
which  we  were  living. 

The  summer  of  that  year  was  an  exciting  period  in  the  history 
of  the  new  territory.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  people,  seek- 
ing new  homes,  flocked  thither,  a  large  number  of  the  emigrants 
coming  over  from  adjoining  States.  The  Missourians,  some  of 
them,  would  come  laden  with  bottles  of  whisky,  and  after  drink- 
ing the  liquor  would  drive  the  bottles  into  the  ground  to  mark 
their  land  claims,  not  waiting  to  put  up  any  buildings. 

WARFARE    ON   THE    BORDER. 

Every  reader  of  American  history  is  familiar  with  the  disorders 
which  followed  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  "  Enabling  Act." 
Pending  its  passage  the  western  boundary  of  Missouri  was  ablaze 
with  the  camp  fires  of  intending  settlers.  Thousands  of  families 
were  sheltered  under  the  canvas  of  their  ox  wagons,  impatiently 
awaiting  the  signal  from  the  Nation  announcing  the  opening  of 
the  territorial  doors  to  the  brawny  immigrants,  and  when  the 
news  was  heralded  the  waiting  host  poured  over  the  boundary 
line  and  fairly  deluged  the  new  public  domain. 

In  this  rapid  secernent  of  the  territory  a  most  perplexing 
question  arose,  which  was  contested  with  such  virulence  that  a 
warfare  was  inaugurated  which  became  a  stain  upon  the  nation's 
escutcheon,  and  was  not  abated  until  the  Missouri  and  Kansas 


408  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

borders  became  drunk  with  blood.  Nearly  all  those  who  came 
from  Missouri  were  intent  upon  extending  slavery  into  the  terri- 
tory, whilst  those  who  emigrated  from  Illinois,  Iowa  and  Indiana 
and  sought  homes  in  the  new  domain  were  equally  determined 
that  the  cursed  hydra-head  of  slavery  should  never  be  reared  in 
their  midst.  Over  this  question  the  border  warfare  began,  and 
its  fierceness  can  only  find  comparison  in  the  inquisitorial  perse- 
cutions of  the  fifteenth  century.  Men  were  shot  down  in  their 
homes,  around  their  firesides,  in  the  furrows  behind  the  plow,  — 
everywhere.  Widows  and  orphans  multiplied,  the  arm  of  indus- 
try was  palsied,  while  the  incendiary  torch  lit  up  the  prairie 
heavens,  feeding  on  blighted  homes  and  trailing  along  in  the  path 
of  granaries  and  store-houses.  Mobs  of  murder-loving  men, 
drunk  with  fury,  and  with  hearts  set  on  desolation,  day  and  night 
descended  upon  unguarded  households,  and  tearing  away  hus- 
bands and  brothers  from  the  loving  arms  of  wives  and  sisters, 
left  their  bodies  dangling  from  the  shade  trees  of  their  unhappy 
homes,  or  shot  them  down  where  their  blood  might  sear  the  eyes 
of  helpless,  agonized  relatives.  Anguish  sat  on  every  threshold, 
pity  had  no  abiding-place,  and  for  four  years  the  besom  of  de- 
struction, with  all  its  pestilential  influences,  blighted  the  prairiea 
and  rendered  every  heart  on  the  border  sad  and  despondent. 

THE    STABBING   OF    MY   FATHER. 

In  this  war  of  vengeance  the  Cody  family  did  not  escape  a  full 
measure  of  affliction.  Near  the  Salt  Creek  trading  post  was  an- 
other store,  kept  by  a  Missourian  named  Rively,  around  which  a 
considerable  settlement  had  been  made,  which  became  the  ren- 
dezvous of  many  different  elements,  and  particularly  of  pro- 
slavery  men,  who  enjoyed  Rively 's  sympathies.  In  the  summer 
of  1854,  and  within  a  few  months  after  the  "  Enabling  Act"  was 
passed,  a  very  large  meeting  was  held  at  the  popular  rendezvous, 
and  father  being  present  was  pressed  to  address  the  crowd  on  the 
slavery  question,  he  being  regarded  as  favorably  disposed  to 
making  Kansas  a  slave  territory,  owing  to  the  fact  that  his 
brother,  Elijah,  was  a  Missourian, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


409 


After  much  urging  he  at  length  spoke  substantially  as  follows : 
"  GENTLEMEN:  You  have  called  upon  me  for  a  speech,  and  I 
have  accepted  your  invitation  rather  against  my  will,  as  my  views 
may  not  accord  with  the  sentiments  of  a  majority  of  this  assembly. 
My  remarks  will  therefore  be  brief  and  to  the  point.  The  ques- 
tion before  us  to-day  is,  shall  the  territory  of  Kansas  admit 
slavery,  and  hereafter,  upon  her  admission,  shall  she  be  a  slave 
State?  The  question  of  slavery  is  itself  a  broad  one,  which  will 
not  permit  of  discussion  at  length  in  this  place.  I  apprehend 
that  your  motive  in  calling  upon  me  is  to  have  me  express  my 


MURDEROUS    ATTACK   UPON   MY   FATHER. 

sentiments  in  regard  to  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  Kansas. 
I  shall  gratify  your  wishes  in  that  respect.  I  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  the  State  of  Iowa,  and  aided  in  its  settlement  when 
it  was  a  territory,  and  helped  to  organize  it  as  a  State. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  voted  that  it  should  be  a  white  State  —  that 
negroes,  whether  free  or  slave,  should  never  be  allowed  to  locate 
within  its  limits;  and,  gentlemen,  I  say  to  you  now,  and  I  say  it 
boldly,  that  I  propose  to  exert  all  my  power  in  making  Kansas 
the  same  kind  of  a  State  as  Iowa.  1  believe  in  letting  slavery 
remain  as  it  now  exists,  and  I  shall  always  oppose  its  further  ex- 


410  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

tension.     These  are  my  sentiments,  gentlemen,  and  let  me  tell 
you " 

He  never  finished  this  sentence >  or  his  speech,  His  expressions 
were  anything  but  acceptable  to  the  rough-looking  crowd,  whose 
ire  had  been  gradually  rising  to  fever  heat,  and  at  this  point  they 
hooted  and  hissed  him,  and  shouted,  "  You  black  Abolitionist,  shut 
up!"  "Get  down  from  that  box!"  "Kill  him!"  "Shoot 
him  !"  and  so  on.  Father,  however,  maintained  his  position  on  the 
dry  goods  box,  notwithstanding  the  excitement  and  numerous  invi- 
tations to  step  down,  until  a  hot-headed  pro- slavery  man,  who  was 
in  the  employ  of  my  Uncle  Elijah,  crowded  up  and  said:  "  Get 
off  that  box,  you  black  Abolitionist,  or  I'll  pull  you  off." 

Father  paid  but  little  attention  to  him,  and  attempted  to  re- 
sume his  speech,  intending  doubtless  to  explain  his  position  and 
endeavor  to  somewhat  pacify  the  angry  crowd.  But  the  fellow 
jumped  up  on  the  box,  and  pulling  out  a  huge  bowie  knife, 
stabbed  father  twice,  who  reeled  and  fell  to  the  ground.  The 
man  sprang  after  him,  and  would  have  ended  his  life  then  and 
there,  had  not  some  of  the  better  men  in  the  crowd  interfered  in 
time  to  prevent  him  from  carrying  out  his  murderous  intention. 

The  excitement  was  intense,  and  another  assault  would  probably 
have  been  made  on  my  father,  had  not  Rively  hurriedly  carried 
him  to  his  home.  There  was  no  doctor  within  any  reasonable 
distance,  and  father  at  once  requested  that  he  be  conveyed  in  the 
carriage  to  his  brother  Elijah's  house  in  Weston.  My  mother  and 
a  driver  accordingly  went  there  with  him,  where  his  wounds  were 
dressed.  He  remained  in  Weston  several  weeks  before  he  was 
able  to  stir  about  again,  but  he  never  fully  recovered  from  the 
wounds,  which  eventually  proved  the  cause  of  his  death. 

My  uncle  of  course  at  once  discharged  the  ruffian  from  his 
employ.  The  man  afterwards  became  a  noted  desperado,  and 

was  quite  conspicuous  in  the  Kansas  war. 

• 
FATHER'S  ESCAPE  FROM  AN  ARMED  MOB. 

My  father's  indiscreet  speech  at  Rively *s  brought  upon  our 
family  all  of  the  misfortunes  and  difficulties  which  from  that  time 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILLo 


411 


on  befell  us.  As  soon  as  he  wa*  able  to  attend  to  his  business 
again,  the  Missourians  began  to  harass  him  in  every  possible  way, 
and  kept  it  up  with  hardly  a  moment's  cessation.  Kickapoo  City, 
as  it  was  called,  a  small  town  that  had  sprung  into  existence  seven 
miles  up  the  river  from  Fort  Leavenworth,  became  the  hot-bed 
of  the  pro-slavery  doctrine  and  the  headquarters  of  its  advocates. 
Here  was  really  the  beginning  of  the  Kansas  troubles.  My  father, 
who  had  shed  the  first  blood  in  the  cause  of  the  freedom  of  Kan- 


FATHER'S  ESCAPE  FROM  A  KANSAS  MOB. 

sas,  was  notified,  upon  his  return  to  his  trading  post,  to  leave  the 
territory,  and  he  was  threatened  with  death  by  hanging  01 
shooting,  if  he  dared  to  remain. 

One  night  a  body  of  armed  men,  mounted  on  horses,  rode  up 
to  our  house  and  surrounded  it.  Knowing  what  they  had  come 
for,  and  seeing  that  there  would  be  but  little  chance  for  him  in 
an  encounter  with  them,  father  determined  to  make  his  escape  by 
a  little  stratagem.  Hastily  disguising  himself  in  mother's  bon- 
net and  shawl,  he  boldly  walked  out  of  the  house  and  proceeded 
towards  the  corn-field.  The  darkness  proved  a  great  protection, 


412  STORY  OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

as  the  horsemen,  between  whom  he  passed,  were  unable  to  detect 
him  in  his  disguise;  supposing  him  to  be  a  woman,  they  neither 
halted  him  nor  followed  him,  and  he  passed  safely  on  into  the 
corn-field,  where  he  concealed  himself. 

The  horsemen  soon  dismounted  and  inquired  for  father; 
mother  very  truthfully  told  them  that  he  was  away.  They  were 
not  satisfied  with  her  statement,  however,  and  they  at  once  made 
a  thorough  search  of  the  house.  They  raved  and  swore  when 
they  could  not  find  him,  and  threatened  him  with  death  whenever 
they  should  catch  him.  I  am  sure  if  they  had  captured  him  that 
night  they  would  have  killed  him.  They  carried  off  nearly 
everything  of  value  in  the  house  and  about  the  premises ;  then 
going  to  the  pasture,  they  drove  off  all  the  horses;  my  pony, 
Prince,  afterward  succeeded  in  breaking  away  from  them  and 
came  back  home.  Father  lay  secreted  in  the  corn-field  for  three 
days,  as  there  were  men  in  the  vicinity  who  were  watching  for 
him  all  the  time;  he  finally  made  his  escape,  and  reached  Fort 
Leavenworth  in  safety,  whither  the  pro-slavery  men  did  not 
dare  to  follow  him. 

While  he  was  staying  at  Fort  Leavenworth  he  heard  that  Jim 
Lane,  Captain  Cleveland  and  Captain  Chandler  were  on  their 
way  from  Indiana  to  Kansas  with  a  body  of  Free  State  men,  be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred  strong.  They  were  to  cross  the 
Missouri  River  near  Doniphan,  between  Leavenworth  and  Ne- 
braska City,  their  destination  being  Lawrence.  Father  deter- 
mined to  join  them,  and  took  passage  on  a  steamboat  which  was 
going  up  the  river.  Having  reached  the  place  of  crossing,  he 
made  himself  known  to  the  leaders  of  the  party,  by  whom  he  was 
most  cordially  received. 

The  pro-slavery  men,  hearing  of  the  approach  of  the  Free 
State  party,  resolved  to  drive  them  out  of  the  territory.  The 
two  parties  met  at  fiickory  Point,  were  a  severe  battle  was 
fought,  several  being  killed;  the  victory  resulted  in  favor  of  the 
Free  State  men,  who  passed  on  to  Lawrence  without  much 
further  opposition.  My  father  finally  left  them,  and  seeing  that 
he  could  no  longer  live  at  home,  went  to  Grasshopper  Falls, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


413 


thirty-five  miles  west  of  Leavenworth ,  there  he  began  the  erec- 
tion of  a  saw-mill. 

While  he  was  thus  engaged  we  learned  from  one  of  our  hired 
workmen  at  home,  that  the  pro-slavery  men  had  laid  another  plan 
to  kill  him,  and  were  on  their  way  to  Grasshopper  Falls  to  carry 
out  their  intention.  Mother  at  once  started  me  off  on  Prince 
(my  pony)  to  warn  father  of  the  coming  danger.  When  1  had 


TO  SAVE  MY  FATHER'S  LIFE. 


gone  about  seven  miles  I 
suddenly  came  upon  a 
party  of  men  who  were 
camped  at  the  crossing  of 
Stranger  Creek.  As  I 
passed  along  I  heard  one 
of  them,  who  recognized  me,  saying,  "  That's  the  son  of  the  old 
Abolitionist  we  are  after;"  and  the  next  moment  I  was  com- 
manded to  halt. 

Instead  of  stopping  I  instantly  started  my  pony  on  a  run,  and 
on  looking  back  I  saw  that  I  was  being  pursued  by  three  or  four 
of  the  party,  who  had  mounted  their  horses,  no  doubt  supposing 
that  they  could  easily  capture  me.  It  was  very  fortunate  that 
I  had  heard  the  remark  about  my  being  ' '  the  son  of  the  Aboli- 


414  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

tionist,"  for  then  I  knew  in  an  instant  that  they  were  en  route 
to  Grasshopper  Falls  to  murder  my  father.  I  at  once  saw  the 
importance  of  my  escaping  and  warning  father  in  time.  It  was 
a  matter  of  life  or  death  to  him.  So  I  urged  Prince  to  his  ut- 
most speed,  feeling  that  upon  him  and  myself  depended  a  human 
life  —  a  life  that  was  dearer  to  me  than  that  of  any  other  man  in 
the  world.  I  led  my  pursuers  a  lively  chase  for  four  or  five 
miles;  finally,  when  they  saw  they  could  not  catch  me,  they  re- 
turned to  their  camp.  I  kept  straight  on  to  Grasshopper  Falls, 
arriving  there  in  ample  time  to  inform  father  of  the  approach  of 
his  old  enemies.  That  same  night  he  and  I  rode  to  Lawrence, 
which  had  become  the  headquarters  of  the  Free  State  men. 
There  he  met  Jim  Lane  and  several  other  leading  characters,  who 
were  then  organizing  what  was  known  as  the  Lecompton  Legis- 
lature. Father  was  elected  a  member  of  that  body,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  organizing  the  first  Legislature  of  Kansas,  under 
Governor  Eeeder,  who,  by  the  way,  was  a  Free  State  man  and  a 
great  friend  of  father's. 

About  this  time  agents  were  being  sent  to  the  East  to  induce 
emigrants  to  locate  in  Kansas,  and  father  was  sent  as  one  of 
these  agents  to  Ohio.  After  the  Legislature  had  been  organized 
at  Lawrence,  he  departed  for  Ohio  and  was  absent  several  months. 
A  few  days  after  he  had  gone,  I  started  for  home  by  the  way  of 
Fort  Leavenworth,  accompanied  by  two  men,  who  were  going  to 
the  fort  on  business.  As  we  were  crossing  a  stream  called  Little 
Stranger,  we  were  fired  upon  by  some  unknown  party;  one  of 
my  companions,  whose  name  has  escaped  my  memory,  was  killed. 
The  other  man  and  myself  put  spurs  to  our  horses  and  made  a 
dash  for  our  lives.  We  succeeded  in  making  our  escape,  though 
a  farewell  shot  or  two  was  sent  after  us.  At  Fort  Leavenworth 
I  parted  company  with  my  companion,  and  reached  home  with- 
out any  further  adventure. 

My  mother  and  sisters,  who  had  not  heard  of  my  father  or 
myself  since  I  had  been  sent  to  warn  him  of  his  danger,  had  be- 
come very  anxious  and  uneasy  about  us,  and  were  uncertain  as 
to  whether  we  were  dead  or  alive.  I  received  a  warm  welcome 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  415 

home,  and  as  I  entered  the  house,  mother  seemed  to  read  from 
the  expression  of  my  countenance  that  father  was  safe ;  of  course 
the  very  first  question  she  asked  was  as  to  his  whereabouts,  and 
in  reply  I  handed  her  a  long  letter  from  him  which  explained 
everything.  Mother  blessed  me  again  and  again  for  having  saved 
his  life. 

While  father  was  absent  in  Ohio,  we  were  almost  daily  visited 
by  some  of  the  pro-slavery  men,  who  helped  themselves  to  any- 
thing they  saw  fit,  and  frequently  compelled  my  mother  and  sis- 
ters to  cook  for  them,  and  to  otherwise  submit  to  a  great  deal  of 
bad  treatment.  Hardly  a  day  passed  without  some  of  them  in- 
quiring "  where  the  old  man  was,"  saying  they  would  kill  him  on 
sight.  Thus  we  passed  the  summer  of  1855,  remaining  at  our 
home  notwithstanding  the  unpleasant  surroundings,  as  mother 
had  made  up  her  mind  not  to  be  driven  out  of  the  country.  My 
uncle  and  other  friends  advised  her  to  leave  Kansas  and  move  to 
Missouri,  because  they  did  not  consider  our  lives  safe,  as  we 
lived  so  near  the  headquarters  of  the  pro-slavery  men,  who  had 
sworn  vengeance  upon  father. 

Nothing,  however,  could  persuade  mother  to  change  her  de- 
termination. She  said  that  the  pro-slavery  men  had  taken  every- 
thing except  the  little  home,  and  she  proposed  to  remain  there  as 
long  as  she  lived,  happen  what  might.  Our  only  friends  in  Salt 
Creek  Valley  were  two  families  ;  one  named  La,,  rence,  the  other 
Hathaway,  and  the  peaceable  Indians,  who  occasionally  visited 
us.  My  uncle,  living  in  Missouri  and  being  somewhat  in  fear  of 
fche  pro-slavery  men,  could  not  assist  us  much,  beyond  express- 
ing his  sympathy  and  sending  us  provisions. 

In  the  winter  of  1854-55  father  returned  from  Ohio,  but  as 
soon  as  his  old  enemies  learned  that  he  was  with  us,  they  again 
compelled  him  to  leave.  He  proceeded  to  Lawrence,  and  there 
spent  the  winter  in  attending  the  Lecompton  Legislature.  The 
remainder  of  the  year  he  passed  mostly  at  Grasshopper  Falls, 
where  he  completed  his  saw-mill.  He  occasionally  visited  home 
under  cover  of  the  night,  and  in  the  most  secret  manner;  virtu- 
ally carrying  his  life  ^  his  hand. 


416  STOEY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

In  the  spring  of  this  year  (1855)  a  pro-slavery  party  came  to 
our  house  to  search  for  father;  not  finding  him,  they  departed, 
taking  with  them  my  pony,  Prince.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
man  who  stole  that  pony.  He  afterwards  rose  from  the  low 
level  of  a  horse  thief  to  the  high  dignity  of  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  I  think  still  lives  at  Kickapoo.  The  loss  of  my  faithful 
pony  nearly  broke  my  heart  and  bankrupted  me  in  business,  as  I 
had  nothing  to  ride. 

ENGAGEMENT  WITH  THE  GREAT  OVERLAND  FREIGHTERS. 

One  day,  soon  afterwards,  I  met  my  old  friend,  Mr.  Russell, 
to  whom  I  related  all  my  troubles,  and  his  generous  heart  was 
touched  by  my  story.  "  Billy,  my  boy,"  said  he,  "  cheer  up, 
and  come  to  Leavenworth,  and  I'll  employ  you.  I'll  give  you 
twenty-five  dollars  a  month  to  herd  cattle." 

I  accepted  the  offer,  and  heartily  thanking  him,  hurried  home 
to  obtain  mother's  consent.  She  refused  to  let  me  go,  and  all 
my  pleading  was  in  vain.  Young  as  I  was  —  being  then  only  in 
my  tenth  year,  my  ideas  and  knowledge  of  the  world,  however, 
being  far  in  advance  of  my  age  —  I  determined  to  run  away  from 
home.  Mr.  Russell's  offer  of  twenty-five  dollars  a  month  was  a 
temptation  which  I  could  not  resist.  The  remuneration  for  my 
services  seemed  very  large  to  me,  and  I  accordingly  stole  away 
and  walked  to  Leavenworth. 

Mr.  Badger,  one  of  Mr.  Russell's  superintendents,  immediately 
sent  me  out,  mounted  on  a  little  gray  mule,  to  herd  cattle.  I 
worked  at  this  for  two  months,  and  then  came  into  Leavenworth. 
I  had  not  been  home  during  all  this  time,  but  mother  had  learned 
from  Mr.  Russell  where  I  was,  and  she  no  longer  felt  uneasy,  as 
he  had  advised  her  to  let  me  remain  in  his  employ.  He  assured 
her  that  I  was  all  right,  and  said  that  when  the  herd  came  in  he 
vrould  allow  me  to  make  a  visit  home. 

Upon  my  arrival  in  Leavenworth  with  the  herd  of  cattle,  Mr. 
Russell  instructed  his  book-keepei,  Mr.  Byers,  to  pay  me  my 
wages,  amounting  to  fifty  dollars.  Byers  gave  me  the  sum  all  in 
half-dollar  pieces.  I  put  tne  bright  silver  coins  into  a  sack, 


27 


417 


418  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

which  I  tied  to  my  mule,  and  started  home,  thinking  myself  a 
millionaire.  This  money  I  gave  to  mother,  who  had  already 
forgiven  me  for  running  away. 

Thus  began  my  service  for  the  firm  of  Russell  &  Majors,  after- 
wards Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell,  with  whom  I  spent  seven  years 
of  my  life  in  different  capacities  —  such  as  cavallard-driver, 
wagon-master,  pony  express  rider  and  driver.  I  continued  to 
work  for  Mr.  Russell  during  the  rest  of  the  summer  of  1855, 
and  in  the  winter  of  1855-56  I  attended  school. 

Father,  who  still  continued  to  secretly  visit  home,  was  anxious 
to  have  his  children  receive  as  much  education  as  possible,  under 
the  adverse  circumstances  surrounding  us,  and  he  employed  a 
teacher.  Miss  Jennie  Lyons,  to  come  to  our  house  and  teach.  My 
mother  was  well  educated  — more  so  than  my  father  —  and  it  used 
to  worry  her  a  great  deal  because  her  children  could  not  receive 
better  educational  advantages.  However,  the  little  school  at 
home  got  along  exceedingly  well,  and  we  all  made  rapid  advances 
in  our  studies,  as  Miss  Lyons  was  an  excellent  teacher.  She 
afterwards  married  a  gentleman  named  Hook,  who  became  the 
first  mayor  of  Cheyenne,  where  she  now  lives. 

A    MOB    OUTWITTED. 

The  Kansas  troubles  reached  their  highest  pitch  in  the  spring 
of  1856,  and  our  family  continued  to  be  harassed  as  much  as 
ever  by  our  old  enemies.  I  cannot  now  recollect  one-half  of  the 
serious  difficulties  that  we  had  to  encounter ;  but  I  very  distinctly 
remember  one  incident  well  worth  relating.  I  came  home  one 
night  on  a  visit  from  Leavenworth,  being  accompanied  by  a  fel- 
low-herder —  a  young  man.  During  the  night  we  heard  a  noise 
outside  of  the  house,  and  soon  the  dogs  began  barking  loudly. 
We  looked  out  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  disturbance,  and  saw 
that  the  house  was  surrounded  by  a  party  of  men.  Mother 
had  become  accustomed  to  such  occurrences,  and  on  this  occa- 
sion she  seemed  to  be  master  of  the  situation  from  the  start. 
Opening  a  window,  she  coolly  sang  out,  in  a  firm  tone  of  voice : 
"  Who  are  you?  What  do  you  want  here?  " 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  419 

"  We  are  after  that  old  Abolition  husband  of  yours,"  wai  th* 
answer  from  one  of  the  crowd. 

66  He  is  not  in  the  house  and  has  not  been  here  for  a  long 
time,"  said  my  mother. 

"  That's  a  lie !  We  know  he  is  in  the  house  and  we  are  bound 
to  have  him,"  said  the  spokesman  of  the  party. 

I  afterwards  learned  they  had  mistaken  the  herder,  who  had  ridden 
home  with  me,  for  my  father,  for  whom  they  had  been  watching. 

"  My  husband  is  not  at  home,"  emphatically  repeated  my  he- 
roic mother  —  for  if  there  ever  was  a  heroine  she  certainly  was 
one — "  but  the  house  is  full  of  armed  men,"  continued  she, 
"  and  I'll  give  you  just  two  minutes  to  get  out  of  the  yard;  if 
you  are  not  out  by  the  end  of  that  time  I  shall  order  them  to  fire 
on  you." 

She  withdrew  from  the  window  for  a  few  moments  and  hur- 
riedly instructed  the  herder  to  call  aloud  certain  names  —  any 
that  he  might  think  of  —  just  as  if  the  house  were  full  of  men  to 
whom  he  was  giving  orders.  He  followed  her  directions  to  the 
very  letter.  He  could  not  have  done  it  any  better  had  he  re- 
hearsed the  act  a  dozen  times. 

The  party  outside  heard  him,  as  it  was  intended  they  should, 
and  they  supposed  that  my  mother  really  had  quite  a  force  at 
her  command.  While  this  little  by-play  was  being  enacted,  she 
stepped  to  the  open  window  again  and  said:  — 

"  John  Green,  you  and  your  friends  had  better  go  away  or  the 
men  will  surely  fire  on  you." 

At  this  point  the  herder,  myself  and  my  sisters  commenced 
stamping  on  the  floor  in  imitation  of  a  squad  of  soldiers,  and  the 
herder  issued  his  orders  in  a  loud  voice  to  his  imaginary  troops, 
who  were  apparently  approaching  the  window  preparatory  to  fir- 
ing a  volley  at  the  enemy.  This  little  stratagem  proved  emi- 
nently successful.  The  cowardly  villains  began  retreating,  and 
then  my  mother  fired  an  old  gun  into  the  air  which  greatly  accel- 
erated their  speed,  causing  them  to  break  and  run.  They  soon 
disappeared  from  view  in  the  darkness. 

The  next  morning  we  accidentally  discovered  that  they  had  in- 


420  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

tended  to  blow  up  the  house.  Upon  going  into  the  cellar  which 
had  been  left  open  on  one  side,  we  found  two  kegs  of  powder 
together  with  a  fuse  secreted  there.  It  only  required  a  lighted 
match  to  have  sent  us  into  eternity.  My  mother's  presence  of 
mind,  which  had  never  yet  deserted  her  in  any  trying  situation, 
had  saved  our  lives. 

ANOTHER  ATTEMPT   TO   ASSASSINATE   MY   FATHER. 

Shortly  after  this  affair  I  came  home  again  on  a  visit  and  found 
father  there  sick  with  fever  and  confined  to  his  bed.  One  day 
my  old  enemy  rode  up  to  the  house  on  my  pony  Prince,  which 
he  had  stolen  from  me. 

"  What  is  your  business  here  to-day?  "  asked  mother. 

'*  I  am  looking  for  the  old  man,"  he  replied.  "  I  am  going  to 
search  the  house,  and  if  I  find  him  I  am  going  to  kill  him.  Here, 
you  girls,"  said  he,  addressing  my  sisters,  "  get  me  some  dinner, 
and  get  it  quick,  too,  for  I  am  as  hungry  as  a  wolf." 

"  Very  well;  pray  be  seated,  and  we' 11  get  you  something  to  eat," 
said  one  of  my  sisters,  without  exhibiting  the  least  sign  of  fear. 

He  sat  down,  and  while  they  were  preparing  a  dinner  for  him, 
he  took  out  a  big  knife  and  sharpened  it  on  a  whetstone,  repeat- 
ing his  threat  of  searching  the  house  and  killing  my  father. 

I  had  witnessed  the  whole  proceeding  and  heard  the  threats, 
and  I  determined  that  the  man  should  never  go  upstairs  where 
father  was  lying  in  bed  unable  to  rise.  Taking  a  double-bar- 
reled pistol,  which  I  had  recently  bought,  I  went  to  the  head  of 
the  stairs,  cocked  the  weapon,  and  waited  for  the  ruffian  to  come 
up,  determined,  that  the  moment  he  set  foot  on  the  steps  I  would 
kill  him.  I  was  relieved,  however,  from  the  stern  necessity,  as 
he  did  not  make  his  appearance. 

The  brute  was  considerably  intoxicated  when  he  came  to  the 
house,  and  the  longer  he  sat  still  the  more  his  brain  became  mud- 
dled with  liquor,  and  he  actually  forgot  what  he  had  come  there 
for.  After  he  had  eaten  his  dinner,  he  mounted  his  horse  and 
rode  off,  and  it  was  a  fortunate  thing  for  him  that  he  did. 

Father  soon  recovered  and  returned  to  Grasshopper  Falls, 
while  I  resumed  my  cattle  herding. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO   BILL. 


421 


CHAPTER    H. 


MY  FIRST  LOVE  AFFAIR. 

OMMON  school  advantages  were  denied  us  in 
the  early  settlement  of  Kansas,  and  to  pro- 
vide a  means  for  educating  the  few  boys  and 
girls  in  the  neighborhood  of  my  home,  a 
subscription  school  was  started  in  a  small 
log-cabin  that  was  built  on  the  bank  of  a 
creek  that  ran  near  our  house.  My  mother 
took  great  interest  in  this  school  and  at  her 
persuasion  I  returned  home  and  became  en- 
rolled as  a  pupil,  where  I  made  satisfactory  progress  until  the 
evil  circumstance  of  a  love  affair  suddenly  blasted  my  prospects 
for  acquiring  an  education. 

Like  all  school-boys,  I  had  a  sweetheart  with  whom  I  was 
"dead  in  love"  —  in  a  juvenile  way.  Her  name  was  Mary 
Hyatt.  Of  course  I  had  a  rival,  Stephen  Gobel,  a  boy  about 
three  years  my  senior —  the  "  bully  "  of  the  school.  He  was 
terribly  jealous,  and  sought  in  every  way  to  revenge  himself 
upon  me  for  having  won  the  childish  affections  of  sweet  little 
Mary. 

The  boys  of  the  school  used  to  build  play-houses  or  arbors 
among  the  trees  and  bushes  for  their  sweethearts.  I  had  built 
a  play-house  for  Mary,  when  Steve,  as  we  called  him,  leveled  it 
to  the  ground.  We  immediately  had  a  very  lively  fight,  in 
which  I  got  badly  beaten.  The  teacher  heard  of  our  quarrel  and 
whipped  us  both.  This  made  matters  worse  than  ever,  as  I  had 
received  two  thrashings  to  Steve's  one;  I  smothered  my  angry 
feelings  as  much  as  possible  under  the  humiliating  circumstances, 
and  during  the  afternoon  recess  built  another  play-house,  think- 
ing that  Gobel  would  not  dare  to  destroy  a  second  one ;  but  I 
was  mistaken,  for  he  pushed  the  whole  structure  over  at  the  first 


422 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


opportunity.     I  came  up  to  him  just  as  he  finished  the  job,  and 
said: — 

"  Steve  Gobel,  the  next  time  you  do  that,  I'll  hurt  you." 
And  I  meant  it  too;  but  he  laughed  and  called  me  names. 

At  recess,  next  morning,  I  began  the  construction  of  still  an- 
other play-house,  and  when  I  had  it  about  two-thirds  finished, 
Steve  slyly  sneaked  up  to  the  spot  and  tipped  the  whole  thing 
over.  I  jumped  for  him  with  the  quickness  of  a  cat  and  clutch- 
ing him  by  the  throat  for  a 
moment  I  had  the  advantage 
of  him .  But  he  was  too  strong 
for  me,  and  soon  had  me  on 
the  ground  and  was  beating 
me  severely.  While  away 
from  home  I  had  some  way 
come  into  possession  of  a  very 
small  pocket  dagger,  which  I 
had  carried  about  with  me  in 
its  sheath,  using  it  in  place  of 
a  knife.  During  the  struggle 
this  fell  from  my  pocket,  and 
my  hand  by  accident  rested 
upon  it  as  it  lay  upon  the 
ground.  Exasperated  beyond 
measure  at  Steve's  persistence 
in  destroying  my  play-houses, 
TWO  TO  ONE.  and  smarting  under  his  blows, 

I  forgot  myself  for  the  moment,  grasped  the  dagger  and  unthink- 
ingly thrust  it  into  Steve's  thigh.  Had  it  been  larger  it  would 
probably  have  injured  him  severely ;  as  it  was,  it  made  a  small 
wound,  sufficient  to  cause  the  blood  to  flow  freely  and  Steve  to 
cry  out  in  affright:  "  I  am  killed!  O,  I  am  killed  !" 

The  school  children  all  rushed  to  the  spot  and  were  terrified 
at  the  scene.  "What's  the  matter?"  asked  one.  "Bill  Cody 
has  killed  Steve  Gobel,"  replied  another. 

The  uproar  reached  the  teacher's  ear,  and  I  now  saw  him  ap- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  423 

preaching,  with  vengeance  in  his  eye  and  a  big  club  in  his  hand. 
I  knew  that  he  was  coming  to  interview  me.  I  was  dreadfully 
frightened  at  what  I  had  done,  and  undecided  whether  to  run 
away  or  to  remain  and  take  the  consequences ;  but  the  sight  of 
that  flag-staff  in  the  school  teacher's  hand  was  too  much  for  me. 
I  no  longer  hesitated,  but  started  off  like  a  deer.  The  teacher 
followed  in  hot  pursuit,  but  soon  became  convinced  that  he  could 
not  catch  me,  and  gave  up  the  chase.  I  kept  on  running,  until 
I  reached  one  of  Russell,  Major  <&  Waddell's  freight  trains  which 
I  had  noticed  going  over  the  hill  for  the  West.  Fortunately  for 
me  I  knew  the  wagon-master,  John  Willis,  and  as  soon  as  I  re- 
covered  my  breath  I  told  him  what  had  happened. 

"  Served  him  right,  Billy!"  said  he,  "  and  what's  more,  we'll 
go  over  and  clean  out  the  teacher." 

"  Oh  no;  don't  do  that,"  said  I,  for  I  was  afraid  that  I  might 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  wounded  boy's  friends,  who  I  knew 
would  soon  be  looking  for  me. 

"  Well,  Billy,  come  along  with  me ;  I  am  bound  for  Fort 
Kearney ;  the  trip  will  take  me  forty  days.  I  want  you  for  a 
cavallard  driver." 

"  All  right,"  I  replied,  "  but  I  must  go  home  and  tell  mother 
about  it,  and  get  some  clothes." 

"  Well,  then,  to-night  after  we  make  our  camp,  I'll  go  back 
with  you." 

PURSUED  BY  THE  WOUNDED  BOY'S  FATHER. 

The  affray  broke  up  the  school  for  the  rest  of  the  day  as  the 
excitement  was  too  much  for  the  children.  Late  in  the  afternoon, 
after  the  train  had  moved  on  some  considerable  distance,  I  saw 
Steve's  father,  his  brother  Frank,  and  one  of  the  neighbors 
rapidly  approaching. 

"Mr.  Willis,  there  comes  old  Gobel,  with  Frank  and  some- 
body else,  and  they  are  after  me  —  what  am  I  going  to  do?"  I 
asked. 

"  Let  'em  come,"  said  he,  "  they  can't  take  you  if  I've  got 
anything  to  say  about  it,  and  I  rather  think  I  have.  Get  into 


424  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

one  of  the  wagons — keep  quiet  and  lay  low.     I'll  manage  this  little 
job.     Don't  you  fret  a  bit  about  it." 

I  obeyed  his  orders  and  felt  much  easier. 

Old  Gobel,  Frank  and  the  neighbor  soon  came  up  and  inquired 
for  me. 

"  He's  around  here  somewhere/'  said  Mr.  Willis. 

"We  want  him/'  said  Gobel;  "he  stabbed  my  son  a  little  while 
ago,  and  I  want  to  arrest  him." 

t  "Well,  you  can't  get  him;  that  settles  it;  so  you  needn't  waste 
any  of  your  time  around  here,"  said  Willis. 

Gobel  continued  to  talk  for  a  few  minutes,  but  getting  no  greater 
satisfaction,  the  trio  returned  home. 

When  night  came,  Willis  accompanied  me  on  horseback  to  my 
home.  Mother,  who  had  anxiously  searched  for  me  everywhere- 
being  afraid  that  something  had  befallen  me  at  the  hands  of  the 
Gobels — was  delighted  to  see  me,  notwithstanding  the  difficulty 
in  which  I  had  become  involved.  I  at  once  told  her  that  at 
present  I  was  afraid  to  remain  at  home,  and  had  accordingly 
made  up  my  mind  to  absent  myself  for  a  few  weeks  or  months — 
-11:  cast  until  the  excitement  should  die  out.  Mr.  Willis  said  to 
her  that  he  would  take  me  to  Fort  Kearney  with  him,  and  see 
that  I  was  properly  cared  for,  and  would  bring  me  back  safely  in 
forty  days. 

Mother  at  first  seriously  objected  to  my  going  on  this  trip,  fearing 
I  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  Indians.  Her  fears,  however,  were 
soon  overcome,  and  she  concluded  to  let  me  go.  She  fixed  me  up 
a  big  bundle  of  clothing  and  gave  me  a  quilt.  Kissing  her  and 
my  sisters  a  fond  farewell,  I  started  off  on  my  first  trip  across  the 
plains,  with  a  light  heart,  too,  notwithstanding  my  trouble  of  a  few 
hours  before. 

The  trip  proved  a  most  enjoyable  one  to  me,  although  no  incidents 
worthy  of  note  occurred  on  the  way.  On  my  return  from  Fort 
Kearney  I  was  paid  off  the  same  as  the  rest  of  the  employees.  The 
remainder  of  the  summer  and  fall  I  spent  in  herding  cattle  and  work- 
ing for  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell. 

I    finally    ventured    home — not    without    some    fear,    however, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  425 

of  the  Gobel  family  —  and  was  delighted  to  learn  that  during 
my  absence  mother  had  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Gobel,  and 
having  settled  the  difficulty  with  him,  the  two  families  had  be- 
come friends  again,  and  I  may  state,  incidentally,  that  they  ever 
remained  so.  I  have  since  often  met  Stephen  Gobel,  and  we 
have  had  many  a  laugh  together  over  our  love  affair  and  the  af- 
fray at  the  school-house.  Mary  Hyatt,  the  innocent  cause  of  the 
whole  difficulty,  is  now  married  and  living  in  Chicago.  Thus 
ended  my  first  love  scrape. 

In  the  winter  of  1856-57  my  father,  in  company  with  a  man 
named  J.  C.  Boles,  went  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  organized  a  col- 
ony of  about  thirty  families,  whom  they  brought  to  Kansas  and 
located  on  the  Grasshopper.  Several  of  these  families  still  re- 
side there. 

It  was  during  this  winter  that  father,  after  his  return  from 
Cleveland,  caught  a  severe  cold.  This,  in  connection  with  the 
wound  he  had  received  at  Rively's — from  which  he  had  never 
e'ntirely  recovered  —  affected  him  seriously,  and  in  April,  1857, 
lie  died  at  home  from, kidney  disease. 

.  lis  sad  event  left  my  mother  and  the  family  in  poor  circum- 
stances, and  I  determined  to  follow  the  plains  for  a  livelihood 
for  them  and  myself.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  work  under 
my  old  employers,  and  in  May,  1857,  I  started  for  Salt  Lake 
City, with  a  herd  of  beef  cattle,  in  charge  of  Frank  and  Bill  Mc- 
Carthy, for  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston's  army,  which  was 
then  being  sent  across  the  plains  to  fight  the  Mormons. 

MY  FIRST  FIGHT  WITH  INDIANS. 

Nothing  occurred  to  interrupt  our  journey  until  we  reached  Plum 
Creek,  on  the  South  Platte  River,  thirty-five  miles  west  of  Old 
Fort  Kearney.  We  had  made  a  morning  drive  and  had  camped 
for  dinner.  The  wagon -masters  and  a  majority  of  the  men 
had  gone  to  sleep  under  the  mess  wagons ;  the  cattle  were  being 
guarded  by  three  men,  and  the  cook  was  preparing  dinner.  No 
one  had  any  idea  that  Indians  were  anywhere  near  us.  The  first 
warning  we  had  that  they  were  infesting  that  part  of  the  country 


426  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

was  the  firing  of  shots  and  the  whoops  and  yells  from  a  party  of 
them,  who,  catching  us  napping,  gave  us  a  most  unwelcome  sur- 
prise. All  the  men  jumped  to  their  feet  and  seized  their  guns. 
They  saw  with  astonishment  the  cattle  running  in  every  direction, 
they  having  been  stampeded  by  the  Indians,  who  had  shot  and 
killed  the  three  men  who  were  on  day-herd  duty,  and  the  red 
devils  were  now  charging  down  upon  the  rest  of  us. 

I  then  thought  of  mother's  fears  of  my  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  Indians,  and  I  h&d  about  made  up  my  mind  that  such  was 
to  be  my  fate ;  but  when  I  saw  hovr  coolly  and  determinedly  the 
McCarthy  brothers  were  conducting  themselves  and  giving  orders 
to  the  little  band,  I  became  convinced  that  we  would  "  stand  the 
Indians  off,"  as  the  saying  is.  Our  men  were  all  well  armed  with 
Colt's  revolvers  and  Mississippi  yagers,  which  last  carried  a  bul- 
let, and  two  buckshots. 

The  McCarthy  boys,  at  the  proper  moment,  gave  orders  to 
fire  upon  the  advancing  enemy.  The  volley  checked  them,  al- 
though they  returned  the  compliment,  and  shot  one  of  our  party 
through  the  leg.  Frank  McCarthy  then  sang  out,  "  Boys,  make 
a  break  for  the  slough  yonder,  and  we  can  then  have  the  bank 
for  a  breast-work." 

We  made  a  run  for  the  slough  which  was  only  a  short  distance 
off,  and  succeeded  in  safely  reaching  it,  bringing  with  us  the 
wounded  man.  The  bank  proved  to  be  a  very  effective  breast- 
work, affording  us  good  protection.  We  had  been  there  but  a 
short  time  when  Frank  McCarthy,  seeing  that  the  longer  we  were 
corraled  the  worse  it  would  be  for  us,  said:  — 

"  Well,  boys,  we'll  try  to  make  our  way  back  to  Fort  Kearney 
by  wading  in  the  river  and  keeping  the  bank  for  a  breast- work." 

We  all  agreed  tnat  this  was  the  best  plan,  and  we  accordingly 
proceeded  down  the  river  several  miles  in  this  way,  managing  to 
keep  the  Indians  at  a  safe  distance  with  our  guns,  until  the  slough 
made  a  junction  with  the  main  Platte  River.  From  there  down 
we  found  the  river  at  times  quite  deep,  and  in  order  to  carry  the 
wounded  man  along  with  us,  we  constructed  a  raft  of  poles  for 
his  accommodation,  and  in  this  way  he  was  transported. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  427 

Occasionally  the  water  would  be  too  deep  for  us  to  wade,  and 
we  were  obliged  to  put  our  weapons  on  the  raft  and  swim.  The 
Indians  followed  us  pretty  close,  and  were  continually  watching 
for  an  opportunity  to  get  a  good  range  and  give  us  a  raking  fire. 
Covering  ourselves  by  keeping  well  under  the  bank,  we  pushed 
ahead  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  made  pretty  good  progress,  the 
night  finding  us  still  on  the  way  and  our  enemies  yet  on  our 
track. 

HOW   I  KILLED  MY  FIRST  INDIAN. 

I  being  the  youngest  and  smallest  of  the  party,  became  some- 
what tired,  and  without  noticing  it  I  had  fallen  behind  the  others 
for  some  little  distance.  It  was  about  ten  o'clock  and  we  were 
keeping  very  quiet  and  hugging  close  to  the  bank,  when  I  hap- 
pened to  look  up  to  the  moon-lit  sky  and  ^saw  the  plumed  head  of 
an  Indian  peeping  over  the  bank.  Instead  of  hurrying  ahead  and 
alarming  the  men  in  a  quiet  way,  I  instantly  aimed  my  gun  at  his 
head  and  fired.  The  report  rang  out  sharp  and  loud  on  the  night 
air,  and  was  immediately  followed  by  an  Indian  whoop,  and  the 
next  moment  about  six  feet  of  dead  Indian  came  tumbling  into 
the  river.  I  was  not  only  overcome  with  astonishment,  but  was 
badly  scared,  as  I  could  hardly  realize  what  I  had  done.  I  expected 
to  see  the  whole  force  of  Indians  come  down  upon  us.  While  I 
was  standing  thus  bewildered,  the  men,  who  had  heard  the  shot 
and  the  war-whoop  and  had  seen  the  Indian  take  a  tumble,  came 
rushing  back. 

"  Who  fired  that  shot?  "  cried  Frank  McCarthy. 

"  I  did,"  replied  I,  rather  proudly,  as  my  confidence  returned 
and  I  saw  the  men  coming  up. 

"Yes,  and  little  Billy  has  killed  an  Indian  stone-dead — too 
dead  to  skin,"  said  one  of  the  men,  who  had  approached  nearer 
than  the  rest,  and  had  almost  stumbled  upon  the  corpse.  From 
that  time  forward  I  became  a  hero  and  an  Indian  killer.  This 
was,  of  course,  the  first  Indian  I  had  ever  shot,  and  as  I  was  not 
then  more  than  eleven  years  of  age,  my  exploit  created  quite  a 
sensation . 

The  other  Indians,  upon  learning  what  had  happened  to  their 


428  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

advance  fired  several  shots  without  effect  but  which  hastened  our 
retreat  down  the  river.       We   reached  Fort  Kearney  just  as  the 


KILLING    MY    FIRST    INDIAN. 


reveille  was  being  sounded,  bringing  the  wounded  man  with  us. 
After  the  peril  through  which  we  had  passed  it  was  a  relief  to  feel 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  42 £ 

that  once  mor3  I  was  safe  after  such  a  dangerous  initiation. 

Frank  McCarthy  immediately  reported  to  the  commanding  offi- 
cer and  informed  him  of  all  that  had  happened.  The  command- 
ant at  once  ordered  a  company  of  cavalry  and  one  of  infantry  to- 
proceed  to  Plum  Creek  on  a  forced  march  —  taking  a  howitzer 
with  them  — to  endeavor  to  recapture  the  cattle  from  the  In- 
dians. 

The  firm  of  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell  had  a  division  agent  at 
Kearney,  and  this  agent  mounted  us  on  mules  so  that  we  could 
accompany  the  troops.  On  reaching  the  place  where  the  Indians 
had  surprised  us,  we  found  the  bodies  of  the  three  men  whom 
they  had  killed  and  scalped,  and  literally  cut  into  pieces.  We  of 
course  buried  the  remains.  We  caught  but  few  of  the  cattle; 
the  most  of  them  having  been  driven  off  and  stampeded  with 
the  buffaloes,  there  being  numerous  immense  herds  of  the  latter 
in  that  section  of  the  country  at  the  time.  The  Indians'  trail 
was  discovered  running  south  towards  the  Republican  river,  and 
the  troops  followed  it  to  the  head  of  Plum  creek,  and  there 
abandoned  it,  returning  to  Fort  Kearney  without  having  seen  a 
a  single  redskin. 

The  company's  agent,  seeing  that  there  was  no  further  use  for 
us  in  that  vicinity  —  as  we  had  lost  our  cattle  and  mules  —  sent 
us  back  to  Fort  Leavenworth.  The  company,  it  is  proper  to 
state,  did  not  have  to  stand  the  loss  of  the  expedition,  as  the 
government  held  itself  responsible  for  such  depredations  by  the 
Indians. 

On  the  day  that  I  got  into  Leavenworth,  sometime  in  July,  I 
was  interviewed  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  by  a  newspaper  re- 
porter, and  the  next  morning  I  found  my  name  in  print  as  "  the 
youngest  Indian  slayer  on  the  plains."  I  am  candid  enough  to 
admit  that  I  felt  very  much  elated  over  this  notoriety.  Again 
and  again  I  read  with  eager  interest  the  long  and  sensational  ac- 
count of  our  adventure.  My  exploit  was  related  in  a  very 
graphic  manner,  and  for  a  long  time  afterwards  I  was  considera- 
ble of  a  hero.  The  reporter  who  had  thus  set  me  up,  as  I  then 


430  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

thought,  on  the  highest  pinnacle  of  fame,  was  John  Hutchinson, 
and  I  felt  very  grateful  to  him.  He  now  lives  in  Wichita, 
Kansas. 

ON    THE    ROAD    TO    SALT   LAKE. 

In  the  following  summer  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell  entered 
upon  a  contract  with  the  government  for  transporting  supplies 
for  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston's  army  that  was  sent  against 
the  Mormons.  A  large  number  of  teams  and  teamsters  were 
required  for  this  purpose,  and  as  the  route  was  considered  a  dan- 
gerous one,  men  were  not  easily  engaged  for  the  service,  though 
the  pay  was  forty  dollars  per  month  in  gold.  An  old  wagon  mas- 
ter named  Lew  Simpson,  one  of  the  best  that  ever  commanded  a 
bull-train,  was  upon  the  point  of  starting  with  about  ten  wagons 
for  the  company,  direct  for  Salt  Lake,  and  as  he  had  known  me 
for  some  time  as  an  ambitious  youth,  requested  me  to  accompany 
him  as  an  extra  hand.  My  duties  would  be  light,  and  in  fact  I 
would  have  nothing  to  do,  unless  some  one  of  the  drivers  should 
become  sick,  in  which  case  I  would  be  required  to  take  his  place. 
But  even  more  seductive  than  this  inducement  was  the  promise 
that  I  should  be  provided  with  a  mule  of  my  own  to  ride,  and  be 
subject  to  the  orders  of  no  one  save  Simpson  himself. 

The  offer  was  made  in  such  a  manner  that  I  became  at  once 
wild  to  go,  but  my  mother  interposed  an  emphatic  objection  and 
urged  me  to  abandon  so  reckless  a  desire.  She  reminded  me 
that  in  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  trip  would  possibly  occupy  a 
year,  the  journey  was  one  of  extreme  peril,  beset  as  it  was  by 
Mormon  assassins  and  treacherous  Indians,  and  begged  me  to  ac- 

7  oo 

cept  the  lesson  of  my  last  experience  and  narrow  escape  as  a 
providential  warning.  But  to  her  pleadings  and  remonstrances  I 
returned  the  answer  that  I  had  determined  to  follow  the  plains  as 
an  occupation,  and  while  I  appreciated  her  advice  and  desired 
greatly  to  honor  her  commands,  yet  I  could  not  forego  my  deter- 
mination to  accompany  the  train. 

Seeing  that  it  was  impossible  to  keep  me  at  home,  she  reluc- 
tantly gave  her  consent,  but  not  until  she  had  called  upon  Mr. 
Russell  and  Mr.  Simpson  in  regard  to  the  matter,  and  had  ob- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO   BILL. 


431 


tained  from  the  latter  gentleman  his  promise  that  I  should  be  well 
taken  care  of,  if  we  had  to  winter  in  the  mountains.  She  did 
not  like  the  appearance  of  Simpson,  and  upon  inquiry  she  learned, 
to  her  dismay,  that  he  was  a  desperate  character,  and  that  on 
nearly  every  trip  he  had  made  across  the  plains  he  had  killed 
some  one.  Such  a  man,  she  thought,  was  not  a  fit  master  or 
companion  for  her  son,  and  she  was  very  anxious  to  have  me  go 
with  some  other  wagon-master ;  but  I  still  insisted  upon  remain- 
ing with  Simpson. 


ON   THE    OVERLAND   TRAIL. 

"  Madam,  I  can  assure  you  that  Lew  Simpson  is  one  of  the 
most  reliable  wagon-masters  on  the  plains,"  said  Mr.  Russell, 
"  and  he  has  taken  a  great  fancy  to  Billy.  If  your  boy  is  bound 
to  go,  he  can  go  with  no  better  man.  No  one  will  dare  to  im- 
pose on  him  while  he  is  with  Lew  Simpson,  whom  I  will  instruct 
to  take  good  care  of  the  boy.  Upon  reaching  Fort  Laramie, 
Billy  can,  if  he  wishes,  exchange  places  with  some  fresh  man 
coming  back  on  a  returning  train,  and  thus  come  home  without 
making  the  whole  trip." 

This  seemed  to  satisfy  mother,  and  then  she  had  a  long  talk 


432  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

with  Simpson  himself,  imploring  him  not  to  forget  his  promise 
to  take  good  care  of  her  precious  boy.  He  promised  everything 
that  she  asked.  Thus,  after  much  trouble,  I  became  one  of  the 
members  of  Simpson's  train.  Before  taking  our  departure,  I 
arranged  with  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell  that  when  my  pay 
fell  due  it  should  be  paid  over  to  mother. 

DESCRIPTION    OF   THE  BULL-TRAIN  OUTFIT. 

As  a  matter  of  interest  to  the  general  reader,  it  may  be  well 
in  this  connection  to  give  a  brief  description  of  a  freight  train. 
The  wagons  used  in  those  days  by  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell 
were  known  as  the  "  J.  Murphy  wagons,"  made  at  St.  Louis 
specially  for  the  plains  business.  They  were  very  large  and 
were  strongly  built,  being  capable  of  carrying  seven  thousand 
pounds  of  freight  each.  The  wagon-boxes  were  very  commodi- 
ous— being  about  as  large  as  the  rooms  of  an  ordinary  house  — 
and  were  covered  with  two  heavy  canvas  sheets  to  protect  the 
merchandise  from  the  rain.  These  wagons  were  generally  sent 
out  from  Leavenworth,  each  loaded  with  six  thousand  pounds  of 
freight,  and  each  drawn  by  several  yokes  of  oxen  in  charge  of 
one  driver.  A  train  consisted  of  twenty-five  wagons,  all  in  charge 
of  one  man,  who  was  known  as  the  wagon-master.  .  The  second 
man  in  command  was  the  assistant  wagon-master ;  then  came  the 
"  extra  hand,"  next  the  night  herder;  and  lastly,  the  cavallard 
driver,  whose  duty  it  was  to  drive  the  lame  and  loose  cattle. 
There  were  thirty-one  men  all  told  in  a  train.  The  men  did  their 
own  cooking,  being  divided  into  messes  of  seven.  One  man 
cooked,  another  brought  wood  and  water,  another  stood  guard, 
and  so  on,  each  having  some  duty  to  perform  while  getting  meals. 
All  were  heavily  armed  with  Colt's  pistols  and  Mississippi  ya- 
gers, and  every  one  always  had  his  weapons  handy  so  as  to  be 
prepared  for  any  emergency. 

The  wagon-master,  in  the  language  of  the  plains,  was  called 
the  "  bull- wagon  boss;  "  the  teamsters  were  known  as  "  bull- 
whackers  ;  "  and  the  whole  train  was  denominated  a  "  bull-out- 
fit." Everything  at  that  time  was  called  an  "  outfit."  The  men 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  433 

of  the  plains  were  always  full  of  droll  humor  and  exciting  stories 
of  their  own  experiences,  and  many  an  hour  I  spent  in  listening 
to  the  recitals  of  thrilling  adventures  and  hair-breadth  escapes. 

THE   TRAIL. 

The  trail  to  Salt  Lake  ran  through  Kansas  northwestwardly, 
crossing  the  Big  Blue  River,  then  over  the  Big  and  Little  Sandy, 
coming  into  Nebraska  near  the  Big  Sandy.  The  next  stream  of 
any  importance  was  the  Little  Blue,  along  which  the  trail  ran  for 
sixty  miles;  then  crossed  a  range  of  sand-hills,  and  struck  the 
Platte  River  ten  miles  below  old  Fort  Kearney ;  thence  the  course 
lay  up  the  South  Platte  to  the  old  Ash  Hollow  Crossing,  thence 
eighteen  miles  across  to  the  North  Platte,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Blue  Water,  where  General  Harney  had  his  great  battle  in  1855 
with  the  Sioux  and  Cheyenne  Indians.  From  this  point  the 
North  Platte  was  followed,  passing  Court  House  Rock,  Chimney 
Rock  and  Scott's  Bluffs,  and  then  on  to  Fort  Laramie,  where  the 
Laramie  River  was  crossed.  Still  following  the  North  Platte  for 
some  considerable  distance,  the  trail  crossed  the  river  at  old 
Richard's  Bridge,  and  followed  it  up  to  the  celebrated  Red 
Buttes,  crossing  the  Willow  Creeks  to  the  Sweet  Water,  passing 
the  great  Independence  Rock  and  the  Devil's  Gate,  up  to  the 
Three  Crossings  of  the  Sweet  Water,  thence  past  the  Cold 
Springs,  where,  three  feet  under  the  sod,  on  the  hottest  day  of 
summer,  ice  can  be  found ;  thence  to  the  Hot  Springs  and  the 
Rocky  Ridge,  and  through  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  Echo  Can- 
on, and  thence  on  to  the  great  Salt  Lake  Valley. 

In  order  to  take  care  of  the  business  which  then  offered,  the 
freight  for  transportation  being  almost  exclusively  government 
provisions,  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell  operated  6,250  wagons, 
for  the  hauling  of  which  they  used  75,000  oxen,  and  gave  em- 
ployment to  8,000  men;  the  capital  invested  by  these  three 
freighters  was  nearly  $2,000,000.  In  their  operations,  involving 
such  an  immense  sum  of  money,  and  employing  a  class  of  labor- 
ers incomparably  reckless,  some  very  stringent  rules  were  adopted 
by  the  firm,  to  which  all  their  employees  were  made  to  subscribe. 

28 


434  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

In  this  code  of  discipline  was  the  following  obligation:   "  I, 

do  hereby  solemnly  swear,  before  the  Great  and  Living  God,  that 
during  my  engagement,  and  while  I  am  in  the  employ  of  Rus- 
sell, Majors  &  Waddell,  that  I  will  under  no  circumstances  use 
profane  language ;  that  I  will  drink  no  intoxicating  liquors  of 
any  kind ;  that  I  will  not  quarrel  or  fight  with  any  other  employee 
of  the  firm  and  that  in  every  respect  I  will  conduct  myself  hon- 
estly, be  faithful  to  my  duties,  and  so  direct  all  my  acts  as  will 
win  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  my  employers,  so  help  me 
God." 

This  oath  was  the  creation  of  Mr.  Majors,  who  was  a  very 
pious  and  rigid  disciplinarian;  he  tried  hard  to  enforce  it,  but 
how  great  was  his  failure  it  is  needless  to  say.  It  would  have 
been  equally  profitable  had  the  old  gentleman  read  the  riot  act 
to  a  herd  of  stampeded  buffaloes.  And  he  believes  it  himself 
now. 

A    BUFFALO    STAMPEDE. 

Nothing  transpired  on  the  trip  to  delay  or  give  us  any  trouble 
whatever,  until  the  train  struck  the  South  Platte  River.  One 
day  we  camped  on  the  same  ground  where  the  Indians  had  sur- 
prised the  cattle  herd  in  charge  of  the  McCarty  brothers.  It 
was  with  difficulty  that  we  discovered  any  traces  of  anybody  ever 
having  camped  there  before,  the  only  landmark  being  the  single 
grave,  now  covered  with  grass,  in  which  we  had  buried  the  three 
men  who  had  been  killed.  The  country  was  alive  with  buffaloes. 
Vast  herds  of  these  monarchs  of  the  plains  were  roaming  all 
around  us,  and  we  laid  over  one  day  for  a  grand  hunt.  Besides 
killing  quite  a  number  of  buffaloes  and  having  a  day  of  rare 
sport,  we  captured  ten  or  twelve  head  of  cattle,  they  being  a 
portion  of  the  herd  which  had  been  stampeded  by  the  Indians 
two  months  before.  The  next  day  we  pulled  out  of  camp,  and 
the  train  was  strung  out  to  a  considerable  length  along  the  road 
which  ran  near  the  foot  of  the  sand-hills,  two  miles  from  the 
river.  Between  the  road  and  the  river  we  saw  a  large  herd  of 
buffaloes  grazing  quietly,  they  haying  been  down  to  the  stream 
for  a  drink. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


435 


Just  at  this  time  we  observed  a  party  of  returning  Califor- 
nians  coming  from  the  west.  They,  too,  noticed  the  buffalo 
herd,  and  in  another  moment  they  were  dashing  down  upon  them, 
urging  their  steeds  to  the  greatest  speed.  The  buffalo  herd 
stampeded  at  once  and  broke  down  the  hills ;  so  hotly  were  they 
pursued  by  the  hunters 
that  about  five  hundred 
of  them  rushed  through 
our  train  pell-mell, 
frightening  both  men 
and  oxen.  Some  of  the 
wagons  were  turned 
clear  round,  and  many 
of  the  terrified  oxen 
attempted  to  run  to  the 
hills,  with  the  heavy 
wagons  attached  to 
them.  Others  turned 
around  so  short  that 
they  broke  the  wagon 
tongues  off.  Nearly  all 
the  teams  got  entangled 
in  their  gearing,  and 
became  wild  and  un- 
ruly, so  that  the  per- 
plexed drivers  were 
unable  to  manage  them. 

The    buffaloes,    the 
cattle   and   the  drivers 


THE    BUFFALO    STAMPEDE. 


were   soon   running   in 

every    direction,    and 

the  excitement  upset  nearly  everybody  and  everything.     Many 

of  the  cattle  broke  their  yokes  and  stampeded.     One  big  buffalo 

bull  became  entangled  in  one  of   the  heavy  wagon-chains,  and  it 

is  a  fact  that  in  his  desperate  efforts  to  free  himself  he  not  only 

actually  snapped  the  strong  chain  in  two,  but  broke  the  ox-yoke 


436  STORY  OF    THE  WILD  WEST. 

to  which  it  was  attached,  and  the  last  seen  of  him  he  was 
towards  the  hills  with  it  hanging  from  his  horns.  A  dozen  other 
equally  remarkable  incidents  happened  during  the  short  time 
that  the  frantic  buffaloes  were  playing  havoc  with  our  train,  and 
when  they  got  through  and  left  us  our  outfit  was  badly  crippled 
and  scattered.  This  caused  us  to  go  into  camp  and  spend  a  day 
in  replacing  the  broken  tongues  and  repairing  other  damages,  and 
gathering  up  our  scattered  ox-teams. 

CAPTURED    BY   DANITES. 

The  next  day  we  rolled  out  of  camp  and  proceeded  on  our  way 
towards  the  setting  sun.  Everything  ran  along  smoothly  with 
us  from  that  point  until  we  came  within  about  eighteen  miles  of 
Green  River,  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  —  where  we  camped  at 
noon.  At  this  place  we  had  to  drive  our  cattle  about  a  mile  and 
a  half  to  a  creek  to  water  them.  Simpson,  his  assistant  George 
Woods  and  myself,  accompanied  by  the  usual  number  of  guards, 
drove  the  cattle  over  to  the  creek,  and  while  on  our  way  back  to 
camp  we  suddenly  observed  a  party  of  twenty  horsemen  rapidly 
approaching  us.  We  were  not  yet  in  view  of  our  wagons,  as  a 
rise  of  ground  intervened,  and  therefore  we  could  not  signal  the 
train-men  in  case  of  any  unexpected  danger  befalling  us.  We 
had  no  suspicion,  however,  that  we  were  about  to  be  trapped,  as 
the  strangers  were  white  men.  Whei)  they  had  come  up  to  us, 
one  of  the  party,  who  evidently  was  the  leader,  rode  out  in  front 
and  said:  — 

"  How  are  you,  Mr.  Simpson?  " 

"You've  got  the  best  of  me,  sir,"  said  Simpson,  who  did  not 
know  him. 

"  Well,  I  rather  think  I  have,"  coolly  replied  the  stranger, 
whose  words  conveyed  a  double  meaning,  as  we  soon  learned. 
We  had  all  come  to  a  halt  by  this  time  and  the  strange  horsemen 
had  surrounded  us.  They  were  all  armed  with  double-barreled 
shot  guns,  rifles  and  revolvers.  We  also  were  armed  with  re- 
volvers, but  we  had  had  no  idea  of  danger,  and  these  men,  much 
to  our  surprise,  had  "  got  the  drop  "  on  us  and  had  covered  us 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  437 

with  their  weapons,  so  that  we  were  completely  at  their  mercy. 
The  whole  movement  of  corraling  us  was  done  so  quietly  and 
quickly  that  it  was  accomplished  before  we  knew  it. 

"  I'll  trouble  you  for  your  six  shooters,  gentlemen,"  now  said 
the  leader. 

"  I'll  give  'em  to  you  in  a  way  you  don't  want,"  replied 
Simpson. 

The  next  moment  three  guns  were  leveled  at  Simpson.  "  If 
you  make  a  move  you're  a  dead  man,"  said  the  leader. 

Simpson  saw  that  he  was  taken  at  a  great  disadvantage,  and 
thinking  it  advisable  not  to  risk  the  lives  of  the  party  by  any  rash 
act  on  his  part,  he  said:  "  I  see  now  that  you  have  the  best  of 
me,  but  who  are  you,  anyhow?" 

"  I  am  Joe  Smith,"  was  the  reply. 

"  What!  the  leader  of  the  Danites?"  asked  Simpson. 

"  You  are  correct,"  said  Smith,  for  he  it  was. 

"  Yes,"  said  Simpson,  "  I  know  you  now;  you  are  a  spying 
scoundrel." 

Simpson  had  good  reason  for  calling  him  this  and  applying  to 
him  a  much  more  opprobrious  epithet,  for  only  a  short  time  be- 
fore this,  Joe  Smith  had  visited  our  train  in  the  disguise  of  a 
teamster,  and  had  remained  with  us  two  days.  He  suddenly  dis- 
appeared, no  one  knowing  where  he  had  gone  or  why  he  had 
come  among  us.  But  it  was  all  explained  to  us  now  that  he  had 
returned  with  his  Mormon  Danites.  After  they  had  disarmed 
us,  Simpson  asked,  "  Well,  Smith,  what  are  you  going  to  do 
with  us?" 

"  Ride  back  with  us  and  I'll  soon  show  you,"  said  Smith. 

DESTRUCTION  OF   THE  TRAIN  BY  MORMONS. 

We  had  no  idea  of  the  surprise  which  awaited  us.  As  we  came 
upon  the  top'  of  the  ridge,  from  which  we  could  view  our 
camp,  we  were  astonished  to  see  the  remainder  of  the  train-men 
disarmed  and  stationed  in  a  group  and  surrounded  by  another 
squad  of  Danites,  while  other  Mormons  were  searching  our  wag- 
ons for  such  articles  as  they  wanted. 


438  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

"  How  is  this?"  inquired  Simpson.  "  How  did  you  surprise 
my  camp  without  a  struggle?  I  can't  understand  it." 

"Easily  enough,"  said  Smith;  "your  men  were  all  asleep 
under  the  wagons,  except  the  cooks,  who  saw  us  coming  and  took 
us  for  returning  Calif ornians  or  emigrants,  and  paid  no  attention 
to  us  until  we  rode  up  and  surrounded  your  train.  With  our 
arms  covering  the  men,  we  woke  them  up,  and  told  them  all 
they  had  to  do  was  to  walk  out  and  drop  their  pistols  —  which 
they  saw  was  the  best  thing  they  could  do  under  circumstances 
over  which  they  had  no  control  —  and  you  can  just  bet  they 
did  it." 

"And  what  do  you  propose  to  do  with  us  now?"  asked  Simp- 
son. 

"I  intend  to  burn  your  train,"  said  he;  "  you  are  loaded  with 
supplies  and  ammunition  for  Sidney  Johnston,  and  as  I  have  no 
way  to  convey  the  stuff  to  my  own  people,  I'll  see  that  it  does 
not  reach  the  United  States  troops." 

"Are  you  going  to  turn  us  adrift  here?"  asked  Simpson,  who 
was  anxious  to  learn  what  was  to  become  of  himself  and  his  men. 

"  No;  I  am  hardly  so  bad  as  that.  I'll  give  you  enough  pro- 
visions to  last  you  until  you  can  reach  Fort  Bridger,"  replied 
Smith  ;  ' £  and  as  soon  as  your  cooks  can  get  the  stuff  out  of  the 
wagons,  you  can  start." 

"  On  foot?"  was  the  laconic  inquiry  of  Simpson. 

"Yes,  sir,"  was  the  equally  short  reply. 

"Smith,  that's  too  rough  on  us  men.  Put  yourself  in  our 
place  and  see  how  you  would  like  it,"  said  Simpson;  "  you  can 
well  afford  to  give  us  at  least  one  wagon  and  six  yokes  of  oxen 
to  convey  us  and  our  clothing  and  provisions  to  Fort  Bridger. 
You're  a  brute  if  you  don't  do  this." 

"  Well,"  said  Smith,  after  consulting  a  minute  or  two  with 
some  of  his  company,  "  I'll  do  that  much  for  you/' 

The  cattle  and  the  wagon  were  brought  up  according  to  his 
orders,  and  the  clothing  and  provisions  were  loaded  on. 

"  Now  you  can  go,"  said  Smith,  after  everything  had  been  ar- 
ranged. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO   BILL.  439 

"  Joe  Smith,  I  think  you  are  a  mean  coward  to  set  us  afloat  in 
a  hostile  country  without  giving  us  our  arms,"  said  Simpson, 
who  had  once  before  asked  for  the  weapons,  and  had  had  his 
request  denied. 

Smith,  after  further  consultation  with  his  comrades,  said: 
"  Simpson,  you  are  too  brave  a  man  to  be  turned  adrift  here 
without  any  means  of  defense.  You  shall  have  your  revolvers  and 
guns."  Our  weapons  were  accordingly  handed  over  to  Simpson, 
and  we  at  once  started  for  Fort  Bridger,  knowing  that  it  would 
be  useless  to  attempt  the  recapture  of  our  train. 

When  we  had  traveled  about  two  miles  we  saw  the  smoke  aris- 
ing from  our  old  camp.  The  Mormons  after  taking  what  goods 
they  wanted  and  could  carry  off,  had  set  fire  to  the  wagons,  many 
of  which  were  loaded  with  bacon,  lard,  hard-tack,  and  other  pro- 
visions, which  made  a  very  hot,  fierce  fire,  and  the  smoke  to  roll 
up  in  dense  clouds.  Some  of  the  wagons  were  loaded  with  am- 
munition, and  it  was  not  long  before  loud  explosions  followed  in 
rapid  succession.  We  waited  and  witnessed  the  burning  of  the 
train,  and  then  pushed  on  to  Fort  Bridger.  Arriving  at  this 
post,  we  learned  that  two  other  trains  had  been  captured  and  de- 
stroyed in  the  same  way,  by  the  Mormons.  This  made  seventy- 
five  wagon  loads,  or  450,000  pounds  of  supplies,  mostly  provis- 
ions, which  never  reached  General  Johnston's  command  to  which 
they  had  been  consigned. 

ON   THE   POINT    OF    STARVATION. 

After  reaching  the  fort,  it  being  far  in  November,  we  decider 
to  spend  the  winter  there  with  about  four  hundred  other  em- 
ployees of  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell,  rather  than  attempt  a 
return,  which  would  have  exposed  us  to  many  dangers  and  the 
severity  of  the  rapidly  approaching  winter.  During  this  period 
of  hibernation,  however,  the  larders  of  the  commissary  became 
BO  depleted  that  we  were  placed  on  one  quarter  rations,  and  at 
length,  as  a  final  resort,  the  poor,  dreadfully  emaciated  mules 
and  oxen  were  killed  to  afford  sustenance  for  our  famishing 


440  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Fort  Bridger  being  located  in  a  prairie,  all  fuel  there  used  had 
to  be  carried  for  a  distance  of  nearly  two  miles,  and  after  our 
mules  and  oxen  were  butchered  we  had  no  other  recourse  than  to 
carry  the  wood  on  our  backs  or  haul  it  on  sleds,  a  very  tedious 
and  laborious  alternative. 

Starvation  was  beginning  to  lurk  about  the  post  when  spring 
approached,  and  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  a  westward-bound 
train  loaded  with  provisions  for  Johnston' s6army  some  of  our 
party  must  certainly  have  fallen  victims  to  deadly  hunger. 

The  winter  finally  passed  away,  and  early  in  the  spring,  as  soon 
as  we  could  travel,  the  civil  employees  of  the  government,  with 
the  teamsters  and  freighters,  started  for  the  Missouri  River,  the 
Johnston  expedition  having  been  abandoned. 

On  the  way  down  we  stopped  at  Fort  Laramie,  and  there  met 
a  supply  train  bound  westward.  Of  course  we  all  had  a  square 
meal  once  more,  consisting  of  hard  tack,  bacon,  coffee  and  beans. 
I  can  honestly  say  that  I  thought  it  was  the  best  meal  I  had  ever 
eaten ;  at  least  I  relished  it  more  than  any  other,  and  I  think  the 
rest  of  the  party  did  the  same. 

On  leaving  Fort  Laramie,  Simpson  was  made  brigade  wagon- 
master,  and  was  put  in  charge  of  two  large  trains,  with  about  four 
hundred  extra  men,  who  were  bound  for  Fort  Leavenworth. 
When  we  came  to  Ash  Hollow,  instead  of  taking  the  usual  trail 
over  to  the  South  Platte,  Simpson  concluded  to  follow  the  North 
Platte  down  to  its  junction  with  the  South  Platte.  The  two 
trains  were  traveling  about  fifteen  miles  apart,  when  one  morn- 
ing while  Simpson  was  with  the  rear  train,  he  told  his  assistant 
wagon-master,  George  Woods  and  myself  to  saddle  up  our  mules, 
as  he  wanted  us  to  go  with  him  and  overtake  the  head  train. 

ATTACKED    BY  INDIANS. 

We  started  off  at  about  eleven  o'clock,  and  had  ridden  about 
seven  miles,  when  —  while  we  were  on  a  big  plateau,  back  of 
Cedar  Bluffs  —  we  suddenly  discovered  a  band  of  Indians  coming 
out  of  the  head  of  a  ravine,  half  a  mile  distant,  and  charging 
down  upon  us  at  full  speed.  I  thought  that  our  end  had  come  this 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  441 

time.  Simpson,  however,  was  equal  to  the  occasion,  for  with 
wonderful  promptness  he  jumped  from  his  jaded  mule  and  in  a 
trice  shot  his  own  animal  and  ours  also  and  ordered  us  to  assist 
him  to  jerk  their  bodies  into  a  triangle.  This  being  quickly  done 
we  got  inside  the  barricade  of  mule  flesh  and  were  prepared  to 
receive  the  Indians.  We  were  each  armed  with  a  Mississippi 
yager  and  two  revolvers,  and  as  the  Indians  came  swooping  down 
on  our  improvised  fort  we  opened  fire  with  such  good  effect  that 
three  fell  dead  to  the  first  volley.  This  caused  them  to  re- 


HOLDING   THE    FORT. 

treat  out  of  range,  as  with  two  exceptions  they  were  armed  with 
bows  and  arrows  and  therefore  to  approach  near  enough  to  do 
execution  would  expose  at  least  several  of  them  to  certain  death. 
Seeing  that  they  could  not  take  our  little  fortification,  or  drive 
us  from  it,  they  circled  around  several  times,  shooting  their 
arrows  at  us.  One  of  these  struck  George  Wood  in  the  left 
shoulder,  inflicting  only  a  slight  wound,  however,  and  several 
lodged  in  the  bodies  of  the  dead  mules;  otherwise  they  did  us  no 
harm.  The  Indians  finally  galloped  off  to  a  safe  distance,  where 
our  bullets  could  not  reach  them,  and  seemed  to  be  holdino-  a  coun- 


442  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

cil.  This  was  a  lucky  move  for  us,  for  it  gave  us  an  opportunity 
to  reload  our  guns  and  pistols,  and  prepare  for  the  next  charge 
of  the  enemy.  During  the  brief  cessation  of  hostilities,  Simp- 
son extracted  the  arrow  from  Wood's  shoulder,  and  put  an  im- 
mense quid  of  tobacco  on  the  wound.  Wood  was  then  ready  for 
business  again. 

The  Indians  did  not  give  us  a  very  long  rest,  for  with  another 
desperate  charge,  as  if  to  ride  over  us,  they  came  dashing  towards 
the  mule  barricade.  We  gave  them  a  hot  reception  from  our 
yagers  and  revolvers.  They  could  not  stand  or  understand  the 
rapidly  repeating  fire  of  the  revolver,  and  we  checked  them  again. 
They  circled  around  once  more  and  gave  us  a  few  parting 
shots  as  they  rode  off,  leaving  behind  them  another  dead  Indian 
and  a  horse. 

For  two  hours  afterwards  they  did  not  seem  to  be  doing  any- 
thing but  holding  a  council.  We  made  good  use  of  this  time  by 
digging  up  the  ground  inside  the  barricade  with  our  knives  and 
throwing  the  loose  earth  around  and  over  the  mules,  and  we  soon 
had  a  very  respectable  fortification.  We  were  not  troubled  any 
more  that  day,  but  during  the  night  the  cunning  rascals  tried  to 
burn  us  out  by  setting  fire  to  the  prairie.  The  buffalo  grass  was 
so  short  that  the  fire  did  not  trouble  us  much,  but  the  smoke 
concealed  the  Indians  from  our  view,  and  they  thought  that  they 
could  approach  close  to  us  without  being  seen.  We  were  aware 
of  this  and  kept  a  sharp  look-out,  being  prepared  all  the  time  to 
receive  them.  They  finally  abandoned  the  idea  of  surprising  us , 

A    TIMELY   RESCUE. 

Next  morning,  bright  and  early,  they  gave  us  one  more  grand 
charge  and  again  we  "  stood  them  off."  They  then  rode  away 
half  a  mile  or  so  and  formed  a  circle  around  us.  Each  man  dis- 
mounted and  sat  down,  as  if  to  wait  and  starve  us  out.  They 
had  evidently  seen  the  advance  train  pass  on  the  morning  of  the 
previous  day,  and  believed  that  we  belonged  to  that  outfit  and 
were  trying  to  overtake  it ;  they  had  no  idea  that  another  train 
was  on  its  way  after  us. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  443 

Our  hopes  of  escape  from  this  unpleasant  and  perilous  situation 
now  depended  upon  the  arrival  of  the  rear  train,  and  when  we 
saw  that  the  Indians  were  going  to  besiege  us  instead  of  renewing 
their  attacks,  we  felt  rather  confident  of  receiving  timely  assist- 
ance. We  had  expected  that  the  train  would  be  along  late  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  previous  day,  and  as  the  morning  wore  away 
we  were  somewhat  anxious  and  uneasy  at  its  non-arrival. 

At  last,  about  ten  o'clock,  we  began  to  hear  in  the  distance  the 
loud  and  sharp  reports  of  the  big  bull-whips,  which  were  handled 
with  great  dexterity  by  the  teamsters,  and  cracked  like  rifle 
shots.  These  were  aj3  welcome  sounds  to  us  as  were  the  notes 
of  the  bag-pipes  to  the  besieged  garrison  at  Lucknow,  when  the 
re-enforcements  were  coming  up  and  the  pipers  were  heard  play- 
ing, "  The  Campbells  are  Coming."  In  a  few  moments  we  saw 
the  lead  or  head  wagon  coming  slowly  over  the  ridge,  which  had 
concealed  the  train  from  our  view,  and  soon  the  whole  outfit 
made  its  appearance.  The  Indians  observed  ^the  approaching 
train  and  assembling  in  a  group  they  held  a  short  consultation. 
They  then  charged  upon  us  once  more,  for  the  last  time,  and  as 
they  turned  and  dashed  away  over  the  prairie  we  sent  our  fare- 
well shots  rattling  after  them.  The  teamsters,  seeing  the  Indians 
and  hearing  -the  shots,  came  rushing  forward  to  our  assistance, 
but  by  the  tim^  they  reached  us  the  red-skins  had  almost  disap- 
peared from  view.  The  teamsters  eagerly  asked  us  a  hundred 
questions  concerning  our  fight,  admired  our  fort  and  praised  our 
pluck.  Simpson's  remarkable  presence  of  mind  in  planning  the 
defense  was  the  general  topic  of  conversation  among  all  the  men. 

When  the  teams  came  up  we  obtained  some  water  and  bandages 
with  which  to  dress  Wood's  wound,  which  had  become  quite  in- 
flamed and  painful,  and  we  then  put  him  into  one  of  the  wagons. 
Simpson  and  myself  obtained  a  remount,  bade  good-bye  to  our 
dead  mules  which  had  served  us  so  well,  and  after  collecting  the 
ornaments  and  other  plunder  from  the  dead  Indians,  we  left  their 
bodies  and  bones  to  bleach  on  the  prairie.  The  train  moved  on 
again  and  we  had  no  other  adventures  except  several  exciting 
buffalo  hunts  on  the  South  Platte,  near  Plum  Creek. 


444  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

We  arrived  at  Fort  Leavenworth  about  the  middle  of  July 
1858,  when  I  immediately  visited  home.     I  found  mother  in  ver} 
poor  health,  as  she  was  suffering  from  asthma.     My  oldest  sister 
Martha,  had,  during  my  absence,  been  married  to  John  Crane, 
and  was  living  at  Leavenworth. 

ENGAGE  IN  TRAPPING. 

I  had  been  home  only  about  a  month,  after  returning  from 
Fort  Bridger,  when  I  again  started  out  with  another  train,  going 
this  time  as  assistant  wagon-master  under  Buck  Bomer.  We 
went  safely  through  to  Fort  Laramie,  which  was  our  destina- 
tion, and  from  there  we  were  ordered  to  take  a  load  of  supplies 
to  a  new  post  called  Fort  Wallace,  which  was  being  established 
at  Cheyenne  Pass.  We  made  this  trip  and  got  back  to  Fort  Lar- 
amie about  November  1st.  I  then  quit  the  employ  of  Russell, 
Majors  &  Waddell,  and  joined  a  party  of  trappers  who  were 
sent  out  by  the  post  trader,  Mr.  Ward,  to  trap  on  the  streams  of 
the  Chugwater  and  Laramie  for  beaver,  otter,  and  other  fur  an- 
imals, and  also  to  poison  wolves  for  their  pelts.  We  were  out 
two  months,  but  as  the  expedition  did  not  prove  very  profitable, 
and  was  rather  dangerous  on  account  of  the  Indians,  we 
abandoned  the  enterprise  and  came  into  Fort  Laramie  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  December. 

Being  anxious  to  return  to  the  Missouri  River,  I  joined  with 
two  others,  named  Scott  and  Charley,  who  were  also  desirous  of 
going  East  on  a  visit,  bought  three  ponies  and  a  pack-mule,  and 
we  started  out  together.  We  made  rapid  progress  on  our  jour- 
ney, and  nothing  worthy  of  note  happened  until  one  afternoon, 
along  the  banks  of  the  Little  Blue  River,  we  spied  a  band  of  In- 
dians hunting  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream,  three  miles 
away.  We  did  not  escape  their  notice,  and  they  gave  us  a  lively 
chase  for  two  hours,  but  they  could  find  no  good  crossing,  and  as 
evening  came  on  we  finally  got  away  from  them. 

We  traveled  until  late  in  the  night,  when  upon  discovering  a 
low,  deep  ravine  which  we  thought  would  make  a  comfortable 
and  safe  camping-place,  we  stopped  for  a  rest.  In  searching 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  445 

for  a  good  place  to  make  our  beds,  I  found  a  hole,  and  called 
to  my  companions  that  I  had  found  a  fine  place  for  a  nest.  One 
of  the  party  was  to  stand  guard  while  the  others  slept.  Scott 
took  the  first  watch,  while  Charley  and  I  prepared  our 
beds. 

A  HORRIBLE  DISCOVERY. 

While  clearing  out  the  place  we  felt  something  rough,  but  as 
it  was  dark  we  could  not  make  out  what  it  was.  At  any  rate  we 
concluded  that  it  was  bones  or  sticks  of  wood  ;  we  thought  per- 
haps it  might  be  the  bones  of  some  animal  which  had  fallen  in 
there  and  died.  These  bones,  for  such  they  really  proved  to  be, 
we  pushed  one  side  and  then  we  lay  down.  But  Charley,  being 
an  inveterate  smoker,  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  indulg- 
ing in  a  smoke  before  going  to  sleep.  So  he  sat  up  and  struck  a 
match  to  light  his  old  pipe.  Our  subterranean  bed-chamber  was 
thus  illuminated  for  a  moment  or  two ;  I  sprang  to  my  feet  in 
an  instant  for  a  ghastly  and  horrifying  sight  was  revealed  to  us. 
Eight  or  ten  human  skeletons  lay  scattered  upon  the  ground ! 

The  light  of  the  match  died  out,  but  we  had  seen  enough  to 
convince  us  that  we  were  in  a  large  grave,  into  which,  perhaps, 
some  unfortunate  emigrants,  who  had  been  killed  by  the  Indians, 
had  been  thrown  ;  or,  probably,  seeking  refuge  there,  they  had 
been  corraled  and  then  killed  on  the  spot.  If  such  were  the  case 
they  had  met  the  fate  of  thousands  of  others,  whose  friends  have 
never  heard  of  them  since  they  left  their  Eastern  homes  to  seek 
their  fortunes  in  the  far  West.  However,  we  did  not  care  to  in- 
vestigate this  mystery  any  further,  but  we  hustled  out  of  that 
chamber  of  death  and  informed  Scott  of  our  discovery.  Most  of 
the  plainsmen  are  very  superstitious,  and  we  were  no  exception 
to  the  general  rule.  We  surely  thought  that  this  incident  was 
an  evil  omen,  and  that  we  would  be  killed  if  we  remained  there 
any  longer. 

"  Let  us  dig  out  of  here  quicker  than  we  can  say  Jack  Robin- 
son," said  Scott;  and  we  began  to  "dig  out"  at  once.  We 
saddled  our  animals  and  hurriedly  pushed  forward  through  the 
darkness,  traveling  several  miles  before  we  again  went  into 


446 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


camp.  Next  morning  it  was  snowing  fiercely,  but  we  proceeded 
as  best  we  could,  and  that  night  we  succeeded  in  reaching  Oak 
Grove  ranch  which  had  been  built  during  the  summer.  We  here 
obtained  comfortable  accommodations  and  plenty  to  eat  and 
drink  —  especially  the  latter. 

Scott  and  Charley  were  great  lovers  and  consumers  of  "  tan- 
glefoot" and  they  soon  got  gloriously  drunk,  keeping  it  up  for 


A   HORRIFYING   DISCOVERY. 

three  days,  during  which  time  they  gambled  with  the  ranchmen, 
who  got  away  with  all  their  money;  but  little  they  cared  for 
that,  as  they  had  their  spree.  They  finally  sobered  up,  and  we 
resumed  our  journey,  urging  our  jaded  animals  as  much  as  they 
could  stand,  until  we  struck  Marysville  on  the  Big  Blue.  From 
this  place  to  Leavenworth  we  secured  first-rate  accommodations 
along  the  road,  as  the  country  had  become  pretty  well  settled. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHT   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  447 

It  was  in  February,  1859,  that  I  got  home.  As  there  was  now 
a  good  school  in  the  neighborhood,  taught  by  Mr.  Devinny,  my 
mother  wished  me  to  attend  it,  and  I  did  so  for  two  months  and 
a  half  —  the  longest  period  of  schooling  that  I  ever  received  at 
any  one  time  in  my  life.  As  soon  as  the  spring  came  and  the 
grass  began  growing,  I  became  uneasy  and  discontented,  and 
again  longed  for  the  free  and  open  life  of  the  plains. 

OFF    FOR   PIKE'S    PEAK. 

The  Pike's  Peak  gold  excitement  was  then  at  its  height,  and 
everybody  was  rushing  to  the  new  gold  diggings.  I  caught  the 
gold  fever  myself,  and  joined  a  party  bound  for  the  new  town  of 
Auraria  on  Cherry  Creek,  afterwards  called  Denver,  in  honor  of 
the  then  Governor  of  Kansas.  On  arriving  at  Auraria  we  pushed 
on  to  the  gold  streams  in  the  mountains,  passing  up  through 
Golden  Gate  and  over  Guy  Hill,  and  thence  on  to  Black  Hawk. 
We  prospected  for  two  months,  but  as  none  of  us  knew  anything 
about  mining  we  met  with  very  poor  success,  and  therefore  con- 
cluded that  prospecting  for  gold  was  not  our  forte.  We  accordingly 
abandoned  the  enter  prise  and  turned  our  faces  eastward  once  more. 

When  we  struck  the  Platte  River,  the  happy  thought  of  con- 
structing a  small  raft  —  which  would  float  us  clear  to  the  Mis- 
souri and  thence  down  to  Leavenworth — entered  our  heads,  and 
we  accordingly  carried  out  the  plan.  Upon  the  completion  of 
the  raft,  we  stocked  it  with  provisions  and  "  set  sail"  down  the 
stream.  It  was  a  light  craft  and  a  jolly  crew,  and  all  was  smooth 
sailing  for  four  or  five  days. 

When  we  got  near  old  Julesburg  we  met  with  a  serious  mis- 
hap. Our  raft  ran  into  an  eddy,  and  quick  as  lightning  went  to 
pieces,  throwing  us  all  into  the  stream,  which  was  so  deep  that  we 
had  to  swim  ashore.  We  lost  everything  we  had,  which  greatly 
discouraged  us,  and  we  thereupon  abandoned  the  idea  of  rafting 
it  any  further.  We  then  walked  over  to  Julesburg,  which  was 
only  a  few  miles  distant.  This  ranch,  which  became  a  somewhat 
famous  spot,  had  been  established  by  "  Old  Jules,"  a  French- 
man, who  was  afterwards  killed  by  the  notorious  Alf.  Slade. 


448  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


A  PONY  EXPRESS  RIDER. 

The  great  pony  express,  about  which  so  much  has  been  said 
and  written,  was  at  that  time  just  being  started.  The  line  was 
being  stocked  with  horses  and  put  into  good  running  condition. 
At  Julesburg  I  met  Mr.  George  Chrisman,  the  leading  wagon- 
master  of  Russell,  Majors  &  Waddell,  who  had  always  been  a  good 
friend  to  me.  He  had  bought  out  "  Old  Jules,"  and  was  then 
the  owner  of  Julesburg  ranch,  and  the  agent  of  the  pony  express 
line.  He  hired  me  at  once  as  a  pony  express  rider,  but  as  I  was 
so  young  he  thought  I  was  not  able  to  stand  the  fierce  riding  which 
was  required  of  the  messengers.  He  knew,  however,  that  I  had 
been  raised  in  the  saddle  —  that  I  felt  more  at  home  there  than 
in  any  other  place  —  and  as  he  saw  that  I  was  confident  that  I 
could  stand  the  racket,  and  could  ride  as  far  and  endure  it  as  well 
as  sotne  of  the  old  riders,  he  gave  me  a  short  route  of  forty-five 
miles,  with  the  stations  fifteen  miles  apart,  and  three  changes  of 
horses.  I  was  required  to  make  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  including 
the  changes  of  horses.  I  was  fortunate  in  getting  well  broken 
animals,  and  being  so  light,  I  easily  made  my  forty-five  miles  on 
time  on  my  first  trip  out,  and  ever  afterwards. 

I  wrote  to  mother  and  told  her  how  well  I  liked  the  exciting 
life  of  a  pony  express  rider.  She  replied,  and  begged  of  me  to 
give  it  up,  as  it  would  surely  kill  me.  She  was  right  about  this, 
as  fifteen  miles  an  hour  on  horseback  would,  in  a  short  time, 
shake  any  man  "  all  to  pieces;"  and  there  were  but  very  few, 
if  any,  riders  who  could  stand  it  for  any  great  length  of  time. 
Nevertheless,  I  stuck  to  it  for  two  months,  and  then,  upon  re- 
ceiving a  letter  informing  me  that  my  mother  was  very  sick,  I 
gave  it  up  and  went  back  to  the  old  home  in  Salt  Creek  Valley. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


449 


CHAPTER    HI. 


ACCIDENTS    AND    ESCAPES. 

Y  restless,  roaming  spirit  would 
not  allow  me  to  remain  at  home 
very  long,  and  in  November, 
after  the  recovery  of  my  moth- 
er, I  went  up  the  Republican 
river  and  its  tributaries  on  a 
trapping  expedition  in  company 
with  Dave  Harrington.  Our 
outfit  consisted  of  one  wagon 
and  a  yoke  of  oxen  for  the 
transportation  of  provisions,  traps  and  other  necessaries.  We 
began  trapping  near  Junction  City,  Kansas,  and  then  proceeded 
up  the  Republican  River  to  the  mouth  of  Prairie  Dog  Creek, 
where  we  found  plenty  of  beavers. 

Having  seen  no  signs  of  Indians  thus  far,  we  felt  compara- 
tively safe.  We  were  catching  a  large  number  of  beavers  and 
were  prospering  finely,  when  one  of  our  oxen, .having  become 
rather  poor,  slipped  and  fell  upon  the  ice,  dislocating  his  hip,  so 
that  we  had  to  shoot  him  to  end  his  misery.  This  left  us  with- 
out a  team ;  but  we  cared  little  for  that,  however,  as  we  had 
made  up  our  minds  to  remain  there  till  spring,  but  it  was  decided 
that  one  of  us  should  go  to  the  nearest  settlement  and  get  a  yoke 
of  oxen  with  which  to  haul  our  wagon  into  some  place  of  safety 
where  we  could  leave  it. 

We  would  probably  have  pulled  through  the  winter  all  right 
had  it  not  been  for  a  very  serious  accident  which  befell  me  just 
at  that  time.  Spying  a  herd  of  elk,  we  started  in  pursuit  of 
them,  and  creeping  up  towards  them  as  slyly  as  possible,  while 
going  around  the  bend  of  a  sharp  bluff  or  bank  of  the  creek  I 
slipped  and  broke  my  leg  just  above  the  ankle.  Notwithstanding 

29 


450  8TORT   OF  THE    WILD   WEST, 

the  great  pain  I  was  suffering,  Harrington  could  not  help  laugh- 
ing when  I  urged  him  to  shoot  me,  as  he  had  the  ox,  and  thus 
end  my  misery.  He  told  me  to  "  brace  up,"  and  that  he  would 
bring  me  out  "  all  right."  "  lam  not  much  of  a  surgeon,"  said  he, 
"  but  I  can  fix  that  leg  of  yours,  even  if  I  haven't  got  a  diploma." 

He  succeeded  in  getting  me  back  to  camp,  which  was  only  a 
few  yards  from  the  creek,  and  then  he  set  the  fracture  as  well  as 
he  knew  how  and  made  me  as  comfortable  as  was  possible  under 
the  circumstances.  We  then  discussed  the  situation,  which,  to 
say  the  least,  looked  pretty  blue.  Knowing  that,  owing  to  our 
mishaps,  we  could  not  do  anything  more  that  winter,  and  as  I 
dreaded  the  idea  of  lying  there  on  my  back  with  a  broken  leg  for 
weeks,  and  perhaps  months,  I  prevailed  upon  Harrington  to  go  to 
the  nearest  settlement  —  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles 
distant  —  to  obtain  a  yoke  of  cattle  and  then  come  back  for  me. 

This  he  consented  to  do;  but  before  leaving  he  gathered 
plenty  of  wood,  and  as  the  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  J 
would  have  no  difficulty  in  getting  water  if  I  had  a  fire.  There 
was  plenty  of  fresh  meat  and  other  pro  visions  in  the  "  dug-out," 
so  that  I  had  no  fears  of  starvation.  The  "  dug-out,"  which 
we  had  built  immediately  after  we  had  determined  to  remain 
there  all  winter,  was  a  cosy  hole  in  the  ground,  covered  with 
poles,  grass  and  sod,  with  a  fire-place  in  one  end. 

Harrington  thought  it  would  take  him  twenty  days  or  more  to 
make  the  round  trip;  but  being  well  provided  for  —  for  this 
length  of  time  —  I  urged  him  to  go  at  once.  Bidding  me  good- 
bye, he  started  on  foot.  After  his  departure,  each  day,  as  it 
came  and  went,  seemed  to  grow  longer  to  me  as  Hay  there  help- 
less and  alone.  I  made  a  note  of  each  day,  so  as  to  know  the 
time  when  I  might  expect  him  back. 

A  DESPERATE  SITUATION. 

On  the  twelfth  day  after  Harrington  had  left  me  I  was  awak- 
ened from  a  sound  sleep  by  some  one  touching  me  upon  the 
shoulder.  I  looked  up  and  was  astonished  to  see  an  Indian  war- 
rior standing  at  my  side.  His  face  was  hideously  daubed  with 
paint  which  told  me  more  forcibly  than  words  could  have  done 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


451 


that  he  was  on  the  war-path.  He  spoke  to  me  in  broken  English 
and  Sioux  mixed,  and  I  understood  him  to  ask  what  I  was  doing 
there,  and  how  many  there  were  with  me. 

By  this  time  the  little  dug-out  was  nearly  filled  with  other  In- 


CHIEF    RAIN-IN-THE-FACE   SAVES    MY   LIFE. 

dians,  who  had  been  peeping  in  at  the  door,  and  I  could  hear 
voices  of  still  more  outside  as  well  as  the  stamping  of  horses.  I 
began  to  think  that  my  time  had  come,  as  the  saying  is,  when  into 
the  cabin  stepped  an  elderly  Indian,  whom  I  readily  recognized 
as  old  Rain-in-the-Face,  a  Sioux  chief  from  the  vicinity  of  Fort 


452  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Laramie.  I  rose  up  as  well  as  I  could  and  showed  him  my  broken 
leg.  I  told  him  where  I  had  seen  him,  and  asked  him  if  he  re- 
membered me.  He  replied  that  he  knew  me  well,  and  that  I 
used  to  come  to  his  lodge  at  Fort  Laramie  to  visit  him.  I  then 
managed  to  make  him  understand  that  I  was  there  alone  and 
having  broken  my  leg,  I  had  sent  my  partner  off  for  a  team  to 
take  me  away.  I  asked  him  if  his  young  men  intended  to  kill 
me,  and  he  answered  that  was  what  they  had  proposed  to  do, 
but  he  would  see  what  they  had  to  say. 

The  Indians  then  talked  among  themselves  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  consultation,  old  Rain-in-the-Face 
turned  to  me  and  gave  me  to  understand  that  as  I  was  yet  a 
"  papoose,"  or  a  very  young  man,  they  would  not  take  my  life. 
But  one  of  his  men  who  had  no  fire-arms  wanted  my  gun  and 
pistol.  I  implored  old  Rain-in-the-Face  to  be  allowed  to  keep 
the  weapons,  or  at  least  one  of  them,  as  I  needed  something  with 
which  to  keep  the  wolves  away.  He  replied  that  as  his  young 
men  were  out  on  the  war  path,  he  had  induced  them  to  spare  my 
life ;  but  he  could  not  prevent  them  from  taking  whatever  else 
they  wanted. 

They  unsaddled  their  horses  as  if  to  remain  there  for  some 
time,  and  sure  enough  they  stayed  the  remainder  of  the  day  and 
all  night.  They  built  a  fire  in  the  dug-out  and  cooked  a  lot  of 
my  provisions,  helping  themselves  to  everything  as  if  they  owned, 
it.  However,  they  were  polite  enough  to  give  me  some  of  the 
food  after  they  had  cooked  it.  It  was  a  sumptuous  feast  that 
they  had,  and  they  seemed  to  relish  it  as  if  it  were  the  best  lay- 
out they  had  had  for  many  a  long  day.  They  took  all  my  sugar 
and  coffee,  and  left  me  only  some  meat  and  a  small  quantity  of 
flour,  a  little  salt  and  some  baking-powder.  They  also  robbed 
me  of  such  cooking  utensils  as  they  wished ;  then  bidding  me 
good-bye,  early  in  the  morning,  they  mounted  their  ponies  and 
rode  off  to  the  south,  evidently  bent  on  some  murdering  and 
thieving  expedition. 

I  was  glad  enough  to  see  them  leave,  as  my  life  had  undoubt- 
edly hung  by  a  thread  during  their  presence.  I  am  confident  that 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  453 

had  it  not  been  for  my  youth  and  the  timely  recognition  and  in- 
terference of  old  Rain-in-the-Face  they  would  have  killed  me 
without  any  hesitation  or  ceremony. 

The  second  day  after  the  Indians  left  it  began  snowing,  and  for 
three  long  and  weary  days  the  snow  continued  to  fall  thick  and 
fast.  It  blocked  the  door- way  and  covered  the  dug-out  to  the 
depth  of  several  feet,  so  that  I  became  a  snow-bound  prisoner. 
My  wood  was  mostly  under  the  snow,  and  it  was  with  great  diffi- 
culty that  I  could  get  enough  to  start  a  fire  with.  My  prospects 
were  gloomy  indeed.  I  had  just  faced  death  at  the  hands  of  the 
Indians,  and  now  I  was  in  danger  of  losing  my  life  from  starva- 
tion and  cold.  I  knew  that  the  heavy  snow  would  surely  delay 
Harrington  on  his  return ;  and  I  feared  that  he  might  have  per- 
ished in  the  storm,  or  that  some  other  accident  might  have  be- 
fallen him.  Perhaps  some  wandering  band  of  Indians  had  sur- 
prised and  killed  him. 

I  was  continually  thinking  of  all  these  possibilities,  and  I  must 
say  that  my  outlook  seemed  desperate.  At  last  the  twentieth 
day  arrived — the  day  on  which  Harrington  was  to  return  —  and 
I  counted  the  hours  from  morning  till  night,  but  the  day  passed 
away  with  no  signs  of  Harrington.  The  wolves  made  the  night 
hideous  with  their  howls ;  they  gathered  around  the  dug-out ;  ran 
over  the  roof;  and  pawed  and  scratched  as  if  trying  to  get  in. 

Several  days  and  nights  thus  wore  away,  the  monotony  all  the 
time  becoming  greater,. until  at  last  it  became  almost  unendurable. 
Some  days  I  would  go  without  any  fire  at  all,  and  eat  raw  frozen 
meat  and  melt  snow  in  my  mouth  for  water.  I  became  almost 
convinced  that  Harrington  had  been  caught  in  the  storm  and  had 
been  buried  under  the  snow,  or  was  lost.  Many  a  time  during 
that  dreary  period  of  uncertainty  I  made  up  my  mind  that  if  I 
ever  got  out  of  that  place  alive  I  would  abandon  the  plains  and 
the  life  of  a  trapper  forever.  I  had  nearly  given  up  all  hopes  of 
leaving  the  dug-out  alive. 

A    JOYOUS   MEETING. 

It  was  on  the  twenty-ninth  day,  while  I  was  lying  thus  de- 
spondently thinking  and  wondering,  that  I  heard  the  cheerful 


454  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

sound  of  Harrington's  voice  as  he  came  slowly  up  the  creek, 
yelling,  ' '  whoa !  haw ! "  to  his  cattle.  A  criminal  on  the  scaffold, 
with  the  noose  around  his  neck,  the  trap  about  to  be  sprung,  and 
receiving  a  pardon  just  at  the  last  moment,  thus  giving  him  a 
new  lease  of  life,  could  not  have  been  more  grateful  than  I  was 
at  that  time.  It  was  useless  for  me  to  try  to  force  the  door  open, 
as  the  snow  ha<J  completely  blockaded  it,  and  I  therefore  anx- 
iously awaited  Harrington's  arrival. 

"  Hello!  Billy!"  he  sang  out  in  a  loud  voice  as  he  came  up, 
he  evidently  being  uncertain  as  to  my  being  alive. 

"  All  right,  Dave,"  was  my  reply. 

"  Well,  old  boy,  you're  alive,  are  you?"  said  he. 

"  Yes;  and  that's  about  all.  I've  had  a  tough  siege  of  it  since 
you've  been  away,  and  I  came  pretty  nearly  passing  in  my  chips. 
I  began  to  think  you  never  would  get  here,  as  I  was  afraid  you 
had  been  snowed  under,"  said  I. 

He  soon  cleared  away  the  snow  from  the  entrance  and  open- 
ing the  door  he  came  in.  I  don't  tbink  there  ever  was  a  more 
welcome  visitor  than  he  was.  I  remember  that  I  was  so  glad  to 
see  him  that  I  put  my  arms  around  his  neck  and  hugged  him  for 
five  minutes ;  never  shall  I  forget  faithful  Dave  Harrington. 

"Well,  Billy,  my  boy,  I  hardly  expected  to  see  you  alive 
again,"  said  Harrington,  as  soon  as  I  had  given  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  draw  his  breath;  "I  had  a  terrible  trip  of  it,  and  1 
didn't  think  I  ever  would  get  through.  I  was  caught  in  the  snow- 
storm, and  was  laid  up  for  three  days.  The  cattle  wandered 
away,  and  I  came  within  an  ace  of  losing  them  altogether.  When 
I  got  started  again  the  snow  was  so  deep  that  it  prevented  me 
from  making  much  headway.  But  as  I  had  left  you  here  I  was 
bound  to  come  through,  or  die  in  the  attempt." 

Again  I  flung  my  arms  around  Dave's  neck  and  gave  him  a 
hug  that  would  have  done  honor  to  a  grizzly  bear.  My  gratitude 
was  thus  much  more  forcibly  expressed  than  it  could  have  been 
by  words.  Harrington  understood  this,  and  seemed  to  appreciate 
it.  The  tears  of  joy  rolled  down  my  cheeks,  and  it  was  impos" 
sible  for  me  to  restrain  them.  When  my  life  had  been  threatened 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  455 

by  the  Indians  I  had  not  felt  half  so  miserable  as  when  I  lay  in 
the  dug-out  thinking  I  was  destined  to  die  a  slow  death  by  star- 
ration  and  cold.  The  Indians  would  have  made  short  work  of  it, 
and  would  have  given  me  little  or  no  time  to  think  of  my  fate. 

I  questioned  Harrington  as  to  his  trip,  and  learned  all  the  de- 
tails. He  had  passed  through  hardships  which  but  few  men 
could  have  endured.  Noble  fellow,  that  he  was.  He  had  risked 
his  own  life  to  save  mine. 

After  he  had  finished  his  story,  every  word  of  which  I  had 
listened  to  with  eager  interest,  I  related  to  him  my  own  expe- 
riences, in  which  he  became  no  less  interested.  He  expressed 
great  astonishment  that  the  Indians  had  not  killed  me,  and  he 
considered  it  one  of  the  luckiest  and  most  remarkable  escapes  he 
had  ever  heard  of.  It  amused  me,  however,  to  see  him  get  very 
angry  when  I  told  him  that  they  had  taken  my  gun  and  pistol 
and  had  used  up  our  pro  visions.  "  But  never  mind,  Billy,"  said 
he,  "  we  can  stand  it  till  the  snow  goes  off,  which  will  not  be 
long,  and  then  we  will  pull  our  wagon  back  to  the  settlements. n 

THE  RETURN  AND  DEATH  OF  HARRINGTON. 

A  few  days  afterwards  Harrington  gathered  up  our  traps,  and 
cleaned  the  snow  out  of  the  wagon.  Covering  it  with  the  sheet 
which  we  had  used  in  the  dug-out,  he  made  a  comfortable  bed 
inside,  and  helped  me  into  it.  We  had  been  quite  successful  in 
trapping,  having  caught  three  hundred  beavers  and  one  hundred 
otters,  the  skins  of  which  Harrington  loaded  on  the  wagon.  We 
then  pulled  out  for  the  settlements,  making  good  headway,  as  the 
snow  had  nearly  disappeared,  having  been  blown  or  melted  away, 
so  that  we  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  a  road.  On  the  eighth  day 
out  we  came  to  a  farmer's  house,  or  ranch,  on  the  Republican 
river,  where  we  stopped  and  rested  for  two  days,  and  then  went 
on  to  the  ranch  where  Harrington  had  obtained  the  yoke  of  cat- 
tle. We  gave  the  owner  of  the  team  twenty-five  beaver  skins, 
equal  to  $60,  for  the  use  of  the  cattle,  and  he  let  us  have  them 
until  we  reached  Junction  City,  sending  his  boy  with  us  to  bring 
them  back. 


456  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

At  Junction  City  we  sold  our  wagon  and  furs  and  went  with  a 
government  mule  train  to  Leavenworth  —  arriving  there  in  March, 
1860.  I  was  just  able  to  get  around  on  crutches  when  I  got  into 
Leavenworth,  and  it  was  several  months  after  that  before  I  en- 
tirely recovered  the  use  of  my  leg. 

During  the  winter  I  had  often  talked  to  Harrington  about  my 
mother  and  sisters,  and  had  invited  him  to  go  home  with  me  in 
the  spring.  I  now  renewed  the  invitation,  which  he  accepted, 
and  accompanied  me  home.  When  I  related  to  mother  my  ad- 
ventures and  told  her  how  Harrington  had  saved  my  life,  she 
thanked  him  again  and  again.  I  never  saw  a  more  grateful  wom- 
an than  she  was.  She  asked  him  to  always  make  his  home 
with  us,  as  she  never  could  reward  him  sufficiently  for  what  he 
had  done  for  her  darling  boy,  as  she  called  me.  Harrington  con- 
cluded to  remain  with  us  through  the  summer  and  farm  mother's 
land.  But  alas !  the  uncertainty  of  life.  The  coming  of  death 
when  least  expected  was  strikingly  illustrated  in  his  case.  Dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  April  he  went  to  a  nursery  for  some  trees, 
and  while  coming  home  late  at  night  he  caught  a  severe  cold  and 
w&s  taken  seriously  sick,  with  lung  fever.  Mother  did  everything 
in  her  power  for  him.  She  could  not  have  done  more  had  he 
been  her  own  son,  but  notwithstanding  her  motherly  care  and 
attention,  and  the  skill  of  a  physician  from  Leavenworth,  he 
rapidly  grew  worse.  It  seemed  hard,  indeed,  to  think  that  a 
great  strong  man  like  Harrington,  who  had  braved  the  storms 
and  endured  the  other  hardships  of  the  plains  all  winter  long, 
should,  during  the  warm  and  beautiful  days  of  spring,  when  sur- 
rounded by  friends  and  the  comforts  of  a  good  home,  be  fatally 
stricken  down.  But  such  was  his  fate.  He  died  one  week  from 
the  day  on  which  he  was  taken  sick.  We  all  mourned  his  loss  as 
we  would  that  of  a  loved  son  or  brother,  as  he  was  one  of  the 
truest,  bravest,  and  best  of  friends.  Amid  sorrow  and  tears  we 
laid  him  away  to  rest  in  a  picturesque  spot  on  Pilot  Knob.  His 
death  cast  a  gloom  over  our  household,  and  it  was  a  long  time 
before  it  was  entirely  dispelled.  I  felt  very  lonely  without  Har- 
rington, and  I  SOOD  wished  for  a  change  of  scene  again. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


457 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ADVENTURES  ON  THE  OVERLAND  ROAD. 

the  warm  days  of  summer  approached 
I  longed  for  the  cool  air  of  the  moun- 
tains ;  and  to  the  mountains  I  determined 
to  go.  After  engaging  a  man  to  take 
care  of  the  farm,  I  proceeded  to  Leaven- 
worth  and  there  met  my  old  wagon-master 
and  friend,  Lewis  Simpson,  who  was 
fitting  out  a  train  at  Atchison  and  load- 
ing it  with  supplies  for  the  Overland 
Stage  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Russell, 
my  old  employer,  was  one  of  the  propri- 
etors. Simpson  was  going  with  this  train  to  Fort  Laramie  and 
points  further  west. 

"  Come  along  with  me,  Billy,"  said  he,  "  I'll  give  you  a  good 
lay-out.  I  want  you  with  me." 

"I  don't  know  that  I  would  like  to  go  so  far  west  as  that 
again,"  I  replied,  "  but  I  do  want  to  lide  the  pony  express  once 
more;  there's  some  life  in  that." 

"  Yes,  that's  so  ;  but  it  will  soon  shake  the  life  out  of  you,'" 
said  he.  "  However,  if  that's  what  you've  got  your  mind  set 
on,  you  h;id  better  ccme  to  Atchison  with  me  and  see  Mr.  Rus~ 
sell,  who  I'm  pretty  certain  will  give  you  a  situation." 

I  replied  that  I  would  do  that.  I  then  went  home  and  in- 
formed mother  of  my  intention,  and  as  her  health  was  very  poor 
I  had  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  her  consent.  I  finally  con- 
vinced her  that  as  I  was  of  no  use  on  the  farm,  it  would  be  bet- 
ter and  more  profitable  for  me  to  return  to  the  plains.  So  after 
giving  her  all  the  money  I  had  earned  by  trapping,  I  bade  her 
good-bye  and  set  out  for  Atchison. 

I  met  Mr.  Russell  there  and  asked  him  for  employment  as  a 
pony  express-rider;  he  gave  me  a  letter  to  Mr.  Slade,  who  was 


458  STORY   OP  THE   WILD   WEST. 

then  the  stage  agent  for  the  division  extending  from  Jules- 
burg  to  Rocky  Ridge.  Slade  had  his  headquarters  at  Horseshoe 
Station,  thirty-six  miles  west  of  Fort  Laramie,  and  I  made  the  trip 
thither  in  company  with  Simpson  and  his  train. 

Almost  the  very  first  person  I  saw  after  dismounting  from  my 
horse  was  Slade.  I  walked  up  to  hirr  ?.~d  presented  Mr.  Rus- 
sell's letter,  which  he  hastily  opened  and  read.  With  a  sweeping 
glance  of  his  eye  he  took  my  measure  from  head  to  foot,  and 
then  said :  — 

"My  boy,  you  are  too  young  for  a  pony  express-rider.  It 
takes  men  for  that  business." 

"I  rode  two  months  last  year  on  Bill  Trotter's  division,  sir, 
and  filled  the  bill  then;  and  I  think  I  am  better  able  to  ride 
now,"  said  I. 

"  What !  are  you  the  boy  that  was  riding  there,  and  was  called 
the  youngest  rider  on  the  road?" 

"  I  am  the  same  boy,"  I  replied,  confident  that  everything 
was  now  all  right  for  me. 

"  I  have  heard  of  you  before.  You  are  a  year  or  so  older  now, 
and  I  think  you  can  stand  it.  I'll  give  you  a  trial  anyhow  and 
if  you  weaken  you  can  come  back  to  Horse  Shoe  Station  and  tend 
stock." 

That  ended  our  first  interview.  The  next  day  he  assigned  me 
to  duty  on  the  road  from  Red  Buttes  on  the  North  Platte,  to  the 
Three  Crossings  of  the  Sweetwater — a  distance  of  seventy-six 
miles  —  and  I  began  riding  at  once.  It  was  a  long  piece  of  road, 
but  I  was  equal  to  the  undertaking;  and  soon  afterwards  had  an 
opportunity  to  exhibit  my  power  of  endurance  as  a  pony  express- 
rider. 

One  day  when  I  galloped  into  Three  Crossings,  my  home  sta- 
tion, I  found  that  the  rider  who  was  expected  to  take  the  trip 
out  on  my  arrival,  had  gotten  into  a  drunken  row  the  night  be- 
fore and  been  killed.  This  left  that  division  without  a  rider  and 
as  it  was  very  difficult  to  engage  men  for  the  service  in  that  un- 
inhabited region,  the  superintendent  requested  me  to  make  the 
trip  until  another  rider  could  be  secured.  The  distance  to  the 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  459 

next  station,  Rocky  Ridge,  was  eighty-five  miles  and  through  a 
very  bad  and  dangerous  country,  but  the  emergency  was  great 
and  I  concluded  to  try  it.  I  therefore  started  promptly  from 
Three  Crossings  without  more  than  a  moment's  rest  and  pushed  on 
with  usual  rapidity,  entering  every  relay  station  on  time  and  ac- 
complishing the  round  trip  of  three  hundred  and  twenty-two  miles 
back  to  Red  Buttes  without  a  single  mishap  and  on  time.  This 
stands  on  the  records  as  being  the  longest  pony  express  journey 
ever  made. 

PURSUED    BY   INDIANS. 

A  week  after  making  this  trip,  and  while  passing  over  the 
route  again,  I  was  jumped  by  a  band  of  Sioux  Indians  who 
dashed  out  from  a  sand  ravine  nine  miles  west  of  Horse  creek. 
They  were  armed  with  pistols  and  gave  me  a  close  call  with  several 
bullets,  but  it  fortunately  happened  that  I  was  mounted  on  the 
fleetest  horse  belonging  to  the  Express  Company,  and  one  that 
was  possessed  of  remarkable  endurance.  Being  cut  off  from  re- 
treat back  to  Horse  Shoe,  I  put  spurs  to  my  horse,  and  lying  flat 
on  his  back,  kept  straight  for  Sweetwater,  the  next  station, 
which  I  reached  without  accident,  having  distanced  my  pursuers. 
Upon  reaching  that  place,  however,  I  found  a  sorry  condition  of 
affairs,  as  the  Indians  had  made  a  raid  on  the  station  the  morn- 
ing of  my  adventure  with  them,  and  after  killing  the  stock-tender 
had  driven  off  all  the  horses,  so  that  I  was  unable  to  get  a  re- 
mount. I  therefore  continued  onto  Ploutz's  Station  —  twelve 
miles  further  —  thus  making  twenty- four  miles  straight  run  with 
one  horse.  I  told  the  people  at  Ploutz's  what  had  happened  a'k 
Sweetwater  Bridge,  and  with  a  fresh  horse  went  on  and  finished 
the  trip  without  any  further  adventure. 

ATTACK  ON  A  STAGE  COACH. 

About  the  middle  of  September  the  Indians  became  very 
troublesome  on  the  line  of  the  stage  road  along  the  Sweetwater. 
Between  Split  Rock  and  Three  Crossings  they  robbed  a  stage, 
killed  the  driver  and  two  passengers,  and  badly  wounded  Lieut. 
Flowers,  the  assistant  division  agent.  The  red-skinned  thieves 


460 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


also  drove  off   the  stock  from  the  different  stations,  and  were 
continually  lying  in  wait  for  the  passing  stages  and  pony  express 


riders,  so  that  we  had  to  take  many  desperate  chances  in  running 
the  gauntlet. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  461 

The  Indians  had  now  become  so  bad  and  had  stolen  so  much 
stock  that  it  was  decided  to  stop  the  pony  express  for  at  least  six 
weeks,  and  to  run  the  stages  only  occasionally  during  that  period  ; 
in  fact,  it  would  have  been  almost  impossible  to  have  continued 
the  enterprise  much  longer  without  restocking  the  line. 

While  we  were  thus  nearly  all  lying  idle,  a  party  was  organized 
to  go  out  and  search  for  stolen  stock.  This  party  was  composed 
of  stage-drivers,  express-riders,  stock-tenders,  and  ranchmen — 
forty  of  them  altogether  —  and  they  were  well-armed  and  well- 
mounted.  They  were  mostly  men  who  had  undergone  all  kinds 
of  hardships  and  braved  every  danger,  and  they  were  ready  and 
anxious  to  "tackle"  any  number  of  Indians.  Wild  Bill  (who 
had  been  driving  stage  on  the  road  and  had  recently  come  down 
to  our  division)  was  elected  captain  of  the  company. 

It  was  supposed  that  the  stolen  stock  had  been  taken  to  the 
head  of  Powder  river  and  vicinity,  and  the  party,  of  which  I  was 
a  member,  started  out  for  that  section  in  high  hopes  of  success. 

Twenty  miles  out  from  Sweetwater  Bridge,  at  the  head  of 
Horse  creek,  we  found  an  Indian  trail  running  north  towards 
Powder  river,  and  we  could  see  by  the  tracks  that  most  of  the 
horses  had  been  recently  shod  and  were  undoubtedly  our  stolen 
stage-stock.  Pushing  rapidly  forward,  we  followed  this  trail  to 
Powder  river ;  thence  down  this  stream  to  within  about  forty 
miles  of  the  spot  where  old  Fort  Reno  now  stands.  Here  the 
trail  took  a  more  westerly  course  along  the  foot  of  the  mountains, 
leading  eventually  to  Crazy  Woman's  fork  —  a  tributary  of 
Powder  river.  At  this  point  we  discovered  that  the  party  whom 
we  were  trailing  had  been  joined  by  another  band  of  Indians,  and, 
judging  from  the  fresh  appearance  of  the  trail,  the  united  body 
could  not  have  left  this  spot  more  than  twenty- four  hours  before. 

A  CHARGE  THROUGH  THE  INDIAN    CAMP. 

Being  aware  that  we  were  now  in  the  heart  of  the  hostile  coun- 
try and  might  at  any  moment  find  more  Indians  than  we  had 
"  lost,"  we  advanced  with  more  caution  than  usual  and  kept  a 
sharp  lookout.  As  we  were  approaching  Clear  creek,  another 


462  STOKY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

tributary  of  Powder  river,  we  discovered  Indians  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  creek,  some  three  miles  distant ;  at  least  we  saw  horses 
grazing  which  was  a. sure  sign  that  there  were  Indians  there. 

The  Indians  thinking  themselves  in  comparative  safety  —  never 
before  having  been  followed  so  far  into  their  own  country  by 
white  men  —  had  neglected  to  put  out  any  scouts.  They  had  no 
idea  that  there  were  any  white  men  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
We  got  the  lay  of  their  camp,  and  then  held  a  council  to  consider 
and  mature  a  plan  for  capturing  it.  We  knew  full  well  that  the 
Indians  would  outnumber  us  at  least  three  to  one,  and  perhaps 
more.  Upon  the  advice  and  suggestion  of  Wild  Bill,  it  was 
finally  decided  that  we  should  wait  until  it  was  nearly  dark,  and 
then,  after  creeping  as  close  to  them  as  possible,  make  a  dash 
through  their  camp,  open  a  general  fire  on  them,  and  then  stam- 
pede the  horses. 

This  plan,  at  the  proper  time,  was  most  successfully  executed. 
The  dash  upon  the  enemy  was  a  complete  surprise  to  them. 
They  were  so  overcome  with  astonishment  that  they  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  it.  We  could  not  have  astounded  them  any  more 
had  we  dropped  down  into  their  camp  from  the  clouds.  They  did 
not  recover  from  the  surprise  of  this  sudden  charge  until  after 
we  had  ridden  pell-mell  through  their  camp  and  got  away  with 
our  own  horses  as  well  as  theirs.  We  at  once  circled  the  horses 
around  towards  the  south,  and  after  getting  them  on  the  south 
side  of  Clear  creek,  some  twenty  of  our  men  —  just  as  the  dark- 
ness was  coming  on  —  rode  back  and  gave  the  Indians  a  few  part- 
ing shots.  We  then  took  up  our  line  of  march  for  Sweetwate-r 
Bridge,  where  we  arrived  four  days  afterwards  with  all  our  own 
horses  and  about  one  hundred  captured  Indian  ponies. 

A  GENERAL  DRUNK  BUT  ONLY  ONE  MURDER. 

The  expedition  had  proved  a  grand  success,  and  the  event  was 
celebrated  in  the  usual  manner  —  by  a  grand  spree.  The  only 
store  at  Sweetwater  Bridge  did  a  rushing  business  for  several 
days.  The  returned  stock -hunters  drank  and  gambled  and 
fought.  The  Indian  ponies,  which  had  been  distributed  among 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  463 

the  captors,  passed  from  hand  to  hand  at  almost  every  deal  of 
the  cards.  There  seemed  to  be  no  limit  to  the  rioting  and  ca- 
rousing; revelry  reigned  supreme.  On  the  third  day  of  the 
orgie,  Slade,  who  had  heard  the  news,  came  up  to  the  bridge  and 
took  a  hand  in  the  "  fun,"  as  it  was  called.  To  add  some  varia- 
tion and  excitement  to  the  occasion,  Slade  got  into  a  quarrel  with 
a  stage-driver  and  shot  him,  killing  him  almost  instantly. 

The  "boys"  became  so  elated  as  well  as  "elevated"  over 
their  success  against  the  Indians  that  most  of  them  were  in  favor 
of  going  back  and  cleaning  out  the  whole  Indian  race.  One  old 
driver  especially,  Dan  Smith,  was  eager  to  open  a  war  on  all  the 
hostile  nations,  and  had  the  drinking  been  continued  another 
week  he  certainly  would  have  undertaken  the  job,  single-handed 
and  alone.  The  spree  finally  came  to  an  end;  the  men  sobered 
down  and  abandoned  the  idea  of  again  invading  the  hostile  coun- 
try. The  recovered  horses  were  replaced  on  the  road  and  the 
stages  and  pony  express  again  began  running  on  time. 

Slade,  having  taken  a  great  fancy  to  me,  said:  "  Billy,  I  want 
you  to  come  down  to  my  headquarters,  and  I'll  make  you  a  sort 
of  supernumerary  rider,  and  send  you  out  only  when  it  is  neces- 
sary." 

A   HUNT   FOR   BEAR. 

I  accepted  the  offer  and  went  with  him  down  to  Horseshoe, 
where  I  had  a  comparatively  easy  time  of  it.  I  had  always  been 
fond  of  hunting,  and  I  now  had  a  good  opportunity  to  gratify 
my  ambition  in  that  direction,  as  I  had  plenty  of  spare  time  on 
my  hands.  In  this  connection  I  will  relate  one  of  my  bear-hunt- 
ing adventures.  One  day,  when  I  had  nothing  else  to  do,  I 
saddled  up  an  extra  pony  express  horse,  and  arming  myself  with 
a  good  rifle  and  pair  of  revolvers,  struck  out  for  the  foot-hills  of 
Laramie  Peak  for  a  bear-hunt.  Riding  carelessly  along,  and 
breathing  the  cool  and  bracing  autumn  air  which  came  down  from 
the  mountains,  I  felt  as  only  a  man  can  feel  who  is  roaming  over 
the  prairies  of  the  far  West,  well  armed  and  mounted  on  a  fleet 
and  gallant  steed.  The  perfect  freedom  which  he  enjoys  is  in 
itself  a  refreshing  stimulant  to  the  mind  as  well  as  to  the  body. 


464  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Such  indeed  were  my  feelings  on  this  beautiful  day  as  I  rode  up 
the  valley  of  the  Horseshoe.  Occasionally  I  scared  up  a  flock 
of  sage-hens  or  a  jack-rabbit.  Antelopes  and  deer  were  almost 
always  in  sight  in  any  direction,  but  as  they  were  not  tb  3  kind 
of  game  I  was  after  on  that  day  I  passed  them  by  and  k  spt  on 
towards  the  higher  mountains.  The  further  I  rode  the  rougher 
and  wilder  became  the  country,  and  I  knew  that  I  was  approach- 
ing the  haunts  of  the  bear.  I  did  not  discover  any,  however, 
although  I  saw  plenty  of  tracks  in  the  snow. 

About  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  my  horse  having  become 
tired,  and  myself  being  rather  weary,  I  shot  a  sage-hen  and,  dis- 
mounting, I  unsaddled  my  horse  and  tied  him  to  a  small  tree, 
where  he  could  easily  feed  on  the  mountain  grass.  I  then  built 
a  little  fire,  and  broiling  the  chicken  and  seasoning  it  with  salt 
and  pepper,  which  I  had  obtained  from  my  saddle-bags,  I  soon 
sat  down  to  a  "  genuine  square  meal,"  which  I  greatly  relished. 

After  resting  for  a  couple  of  hours,  I  remounted  and  resumed 
my  upward  trip  to  the  mountain,  having  made  up  my  mind  to 
camp  out  that  night  rather  than  go  back  without  a  bear,  which 
my  friends  knew  I  had  gone  out  for.  As  the  days  were  growing 
short,  night  soon  came  on,  and  I  looked  around  for  a  suitable 
camping  place.  While  thus  engaged,  I  scared  up  a  flock  of  sage- 
hens,  two  of  which  I  shot,  intending  to  have  one  for  supper  and 
the  other  for  breakfast. 

By  this  time  it  was  becoming  quite  dark,  and  I  rode  down  to 
one  of  the  little  mountain  streams,  where  I  found  an  open  place 
in  the  timber  suitable  for  a  camp.  I  dismounted,  and  after  un- 
saddling my  horse  and  hitching  him  to  a  tree,  I  prepared  to  start 
a  fire.  Just  then  I  was  startled  by  hearing  a  horse  whinnying 
further  up  the  stream.  It  was  quite  a  surprise  to  me,  and  I  im- 
mediately ran  to  my  animal  to  keep  him  from  answering,  as 
horses  usually  do  in  such  cases.  I  thought  that  the  strange  horse 
might  belong  to  some  roaming  band  of  Indians,  as  I  knew  of  no 
white  men  being  in  that  portion  of  the  country  at  that  time.  I 
was  certain  that  the  owner  of  the  strange  horse  could  not  be  far 
distant,  and  I  was  very  anxious  to  find  out  who  my  neighbor  was, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  465 

before  letting  him  know  that  I  was  in  his  vicinity.  I  therefore 
re-saddled  my  horse,  and  leaving  him  tied  so  that  I  could  easily 
reach  him  I  took  my  gun  and  started  out  on  a  scouting  expedition 
up  the  streain.  I  had  gone  nbout  four  hundred  yards  when,  in 
a  bend  of  the  stream,  I  discovered  ten  or  fifteen  horses  grazing. 

A  ROBBERS'  HAUNT  DISCOVERED. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  a  light  was  shining  high  up 
the  mountain  bank.  Approaching  the  mysterious  spot  as  cau- 
tiously as  possible,  and  when  within  a  few  yards  of  the  light 

which  I  discovered  came  from  a  dug-out  in  the  mountain  side  — 
I  heard  voices,  and  soon  I  was  able  to  distinguish  the  words,  as 
they  proved  to  be  in  my  own  language.  Then  I  knew  that  the 
occupants  of  the  dug-out,  whence  the  voices  proceeded,  were 
white  men.  Thinking  that  they  might  be  a  party  of  trappers,  I 
boldly  walked  up  to  the  door  and  knocked  for  admission.  The 
voices  instantly  ceased,  and  for  a  moment  a  death-like  silence 
reigned  inside.  Then  there  seemed  to  follow  a  kind  of  hurried 
whispering  —  a  sort  of  consultation  —  and  then  some  one  called 
out :  — 

"  Who's  there?" 

"  A  friend  and  a  white  man,"  I  replied. 

The  door  opened,  and  a  big,  ugly-lboking  fellow  stepped  forth 
and  said :  — 

"Come  in." 

I  accepted  the  invitation  with  some  degree  of  fear  and  hesita- 
tion, which  I  endeavored  to  conceal,  as  I  saw  that  it  was  too  late 
to  back  out,  and  that  it  would  never  do  to  weaken  at  that  point, 
whether  they  were  friends  or  foe.s.  Upon  entering  the  dug-out 
my  eyes  fell  upon  eight  as  rough  and  villainous  looking  men  as  I 
ever  saw  in  my  life.  Two  of  them  I  instantly  recognized  as 
teamsters  who  had  been  driving  in  Lew  Simpson's  train,  a  few 
months  before,  and  had  been  discharged. 

They  were  charged  with  the  murdering  and  robbing  of  a  ranch- 
man; and  having  stolen  his  horses  it  was  supposed  that  they  had 
left  the  country.  I  gave  them  no  signs  of  recognition  however, 


30 


466  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

deeming  it  advisable  to  let  them  remain  in  ignorance  as  to  who  I 
was.  It  was  a  hard  crowd,  and  I  concluded  that  the  sooner  1 
could  get  away  from  them  the  better  it  would  be  for  me.  I  felt 
confident  that  they  were  a  band  of  horse-thieves. 

"  Where  are  you  going,  young  man;  and  who's  with  you?'* 
asked  one  of  the  men  who  appeared  to  be  the  leader  of  the  gang. 

"  I  am  entirely  alone.  I  left  Horseshoe  Station  this  morning 
for  a  bear-hunt,  and  not  finding  any  bears,  I  had  determined  to 
camp  out  for  the  night  and  wait  till  morning,"  said  I ;  "  and  just 
as  I  was  going  into  camp,  a  few  hundred  yards  down  the  creek 
I  heard  one  of  your  horses  whinnying,  and  then  I  came  to  your 
camp." 

I  was  thus  explicit  in  my  statement  in  order,  if  possible,  to 
satisfy  the  cut-throats  that  I  was  not  spying  upon  them,  but  that 
my  intrusion  was  entirely  accidental. 

"  Where's  your  horse?  "  demanded  the  boss  thief. 

"  I  left  him  down  the  creek,"  I  answered. 

IN   A   TIGHT   PLACE. 

They  proposed  going  after  the  horse,  but  I  thought  that  that 
would  never  do,  as  it  would  leave  me  without  any  means  of 
escape,  and  I  accordingly  said,  in  hopes  to  throw  them  off  the 
track,  "  Captain,  I'll  leave  "my  gun  here  and  go  down  and  get 
my  horse,  and  come  back  and  stay  all  night." 

I  said  this  in  as  cheerful  and  as  careless  a  manner  as  possible,  so 
as  not  to  arouse  their  suspicions  in  any  way  or  lead  them  to 
think  that  I  was  aware  of  their  true  character.  I  hated  to  part 
with  my  gun,  but  my  suggestion  of  leaving  it  was  a  part  of  the 
plan  of  escape  which  I  had  arranged.  If  they  have  the  gun, 
thought  I,  they  will  surety  believe  that  I  intend  to  come  back. 
But  this  little  game  did  not  work  at  all,  as  one  of  the  despera- 
does spoke  up  and  said :  — 

"  Jim  and  I  will  go  down  with  you  after  your  horse,  and  you 
can  leave  your  gun  here  all  the  same,  as  you'll  not  need  it." 

"  All  right,"  I  replied,  for  I  could  certainly  have  said  nothing 
else.  It  became  evident  to  me  that  it  would  be  better  to  trust 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  467 

myself  with  two  men  than  with  the  whole  party.  It  was  appa- 
rent from  this  time  on  I  would  have  to  be  on  the  alert  for  some 
good  opportunity  to  give  them  the  slip. 

*'  Come  along,"  said  one  of  them,  and  together  we  went  down  the 
creek,  and  soon  came  to  the  spot  where  my  horse  was  tied.  One 
of  the  men  unhitched  the  animal  and  said:  "1*11  lead  the  horse." 

"  Very  well,"  said  I,  "I've  got  a  couple  of  sage-hens  here. 
Lead  on." 

I  picked  up  the  sage-hens,  which  I  had  killed  a  few  hours  be- 
fore, and  followed  the  man  who  was  leading  the  horse,  while  his 
companion  brought  up  the  rear.  The  nearer  we  approached  the 
dug-out  the  more  I  dreaded  the  idea  of  going  back  among  the 
villainous  cut-throats.  My  tirst  plan  of  escape  having  failed,  I 
now  determined  upon  another.  I  bad  both  of  my  revolvers  with 
me,  the  thieves  not  having  thought  it  necessary  to  search  me.  It 
was  now  quite  dark,  and  I  purposely  dropped  one  of  the  sage-hens, 
and  asked  the  man  behind  me  to  pick  it  up.  While  he  was  hunt- 
ing for  it  on  the  ground,  I  quickly  pulled  out  one  of  my  Colt's 
revolvers  and  struck  him  a  tremendous  blow  on  the  back  of  the 
head,  knocking  him  senseless  to  the  ground.  I  then  instantly 
wheeled  around,  and  saw  that  the  man  ahead, who  was  only  a  few 
feet  distant,  had  heard  the  blow  and  had  turned  to  see  what  was 
the  matter,  his  hand  upon  his  revolver.  We  faced  each  other  at 
about  the  same  instant,  but  before  he  could  fire,  as  he  tried  to  do, 
I  shot  him  dead  in  his  tracks.  Then  jumping  on  my  horse,  I  rode 
down  the  creek  as  fast  as  possible,  through  the  darkness  and  over 
the  rough  ground  and  rocks. 

The  other  outlaws  in  the  dug-out,  having  heard  the  shot  which 
I  had  fired,  knew  there  was  trouble,  and  they  all  came  rushing 
down  the  creek.  I  suppose  by  the  time  they  reached  the  man 
whom  I  had  knocked  down,  that  he  had  recovered  and  hurriedly 
told  them  of  what  had  happened.  They  did  not  stay  with  the 
man  whom  I  had  shot,  but  came  on  in  hot  pursuit  of  me.  They 
were  not  mounted,  and  were  making  better  time  down  the  rough 
mountain  than  I  was  on  horseback.  From  time  to  time  I  heard 
them  gradually  gaining  on  me. 


STORY   OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 


At  last  they  had  come  so  near  that  I  saw  that  I  must  abandon 
my  horse.  So  I  jumped  to  the  ground,  and  gave  him  a  hard 
slap  with  the  butt  of  one  of  my  revolvers,  which  started  him  on 
down  the  valley,  while  I  scrambled  up  the  mountain  side.  I  had 
not  ascended  more  than  forty  feet  when  I  heard  my  pursuers 
coming  closer  and  closer ;  I  quickly  hid  behind  a  a  large  pine 
tree,  and  in  a  few  moments  they  all  rushed  by  me,  being  led  on  by 
the  rattling  footsteps  of  my  horse,  which  they  heard  'ahead  of 


A    HEROIC    REMEDY   FOR   A    DESPERATE    SITUATION* 

them.  Soon  they  began  firing  in  the  direction  of  the  horse,  as  they 
no  doubt  supposed  I  was  still  seated  on  his  back.  As  soon  as 
they  had  passed  me  I  climbed  further  up  the  steep  mountain, 
and  knowing  that  I  had  given  them  the  slip,  and  feeling  certain 
I  could  keep  out  of  their  way,  I  at  once  struck  out  for  Horse- 
shoe Station,  which  was  twenty-five  miles  distant.  I  had  hard 
traveling  at  first  but  upon  reaching  lower  and'  better  ground  I 
made  good  headway,  walking  all  night  and  getting  into  the  station 
just  before  daylight,  — foot-sore,  weary,  and  generally  played  out. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OH   BWFAEO  L'BILL .  469 

I  immediately  waked  up  the  men  of  the  station  and  told  them 
of  my  adventure.  Slade  himself  happened  to  be  there,  and  he 
at  once  organized  a  party  to  go  out  in  pursuit  of  the  horse  thieves. 
Shortly  after  daylight  twenty  well  armed  stage-drivers,  stock- 
tenders  and  ranchmen  were  galloping  in  thef  direction  of  the  dug- 
out. Of  course  I  went  along  with  the  party,  notwithstanding  I 
was  vei*y  tired  and  had  had  hardly  any  rest  at  all.  We  had  a 
brisk  ride,  and  arrived  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  thieves' 
rendezvous  at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  We  approached 
the  dug-out  cautiously,  but  upon  getting  in  close  proximity  to  it  we 
could  discover  no  horses  in  sight.  We  could  see  the  door  of  the 
dug-out  standing  wide  open,  and  we  then  marched  up  to  the 
place.  No  one  was  inside  and  the  general  appearance  of  every- 
thing indicated  that  the  place  had  been  deserted  —  that  the  birds 
had  flown.  Such,  indeed,  proved  to  be  the  case. 

We  found  a  new-made  grave,  where  they  had  evidently  buried 
the  man  whom  I  had  shot.  We  made  a  thorough  search  of  the 
whole  vicinity,  and  finally  found  their  trail  going  southeast  in 
the  direction  of  Denver.  As  it  would  have  been  useless  to  follow 
them,  we  rode  back  to  the  station  ;  and  thus  ended  my  eventful 
bear-hunt.  We  had  no  more  trouble  for  s*ome  time  from  horse- 
thieves  after  that. 

During  the  winter  of  1860  and  the  spring  of  1861  I  remained 
at  Horseshoe,  occasionally  riding  pony  express  and  taking  care  of 
stock,  but  meeting  with  no  adventure  Worthy  to  be  recorded. 


470 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTER    V. 


AN    INGLORIOUS    SERVICE. 

OLLOWING  the  breaking  out  of  the  gi  eat 
Civil  War  in  1861,  a  general  desertion  of 
stage-drivers  and  express  ride~3  took  place, 
a  majority  of  whom  were  natural  rovers, 
and  always  looking  out  for  change  of  em- 
ployment. I  was  not  an  exception,  and  as 
it  had  now  been  nearly  a  year  since  I  saw 
my  mother,  while  reports  of  her  ill  health 
frequently  reached  me,  I  decided  to  pay 
her  a  visit,  and  at  the  same  time  deter- 
mine,  if  government  service  promised  better 
pay  and  more  excitement  than  I  had  been 
getting  out  of  my  engagement  with  the  ex- 
I  press  company,  to  join  the  army.  In  pur- 

suance of  this  resolve  I  went  to  Leavenworth,  which  was  at  that 
time  an  important  outfitting  post  for  the  West  and  Southwest. 

While  in  the  city  one  day  I  met  several  of  the  old,  as  well  as 
the  young  men,  who  had  been  members  of  the  Free  State  party 
all  through  the  Kansas  troubles,  and  who  had,  like  our  family, 
lost  everything  at  the  hands  of  the  Missourians.  They  now 
thought  a,  good  opportunity  offered  to  retaliate  and  get  even  with 
their  persecutors,  as  they  were  all  considered  to  be  Secessionists. 
That  they  were  all  Secessionists,  however,  was  not  true,  as  all  of 
them  did  not  sympathize  with  the  South.  But  the  Free  State 
men,  myself  among  them,  took  it  for  granted  that  as  Missouri 
was  a  slave  State  the  inhabitants  must  all  be  Secessionists,  and 
therefore  our  enemies.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Chandler  pro- 
posed that  we  Organize  an  independent  company  for  the  pur- 
pose of  invading  Missouri  and  making  war  on  its  people  on  our 
own  responsibility.  He  at  once  went  about  it  in  a  very  quiet 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  471 

way,  and  succeed  in  inducing  twenty- five  men  to  join  him  in  the 
hazardous  enterprise.  Having  a  longing  and  revengeful  desire  to 
retaliate  upon  the  Missourians  for  the  brutal  manner  in  which 
they  had  treated  and  robbed  my  family,  I  became  a  member  of 
Chandler's  company.  His  plan  was  that  we  should  leave  our 
homes  in  parties  of  not  more  than  two  or  three  together,  and 
meet  at  a  certain  point  near  Westport,  Missouri,  on  a  fixed  day. 
His  instructions  were  carried  out,  and  we  assembled  at  the 
rendezvous  i  'the  appointed  time.  Chandler  had  been  there  some 
days  before  us  and,  thoroughly  disguised,  had  been  looking 
around  the  country  for  the  whereabouts  of  all  the  best  horses. 
He  directed  us  to  secretly  visit  certain  farms  and  collect  all  the 
horses  possible,  and  bring  them  together  the  next  night.  This 
we  did,  and  upon  reassembling  it  was  found  that  nearly  every 
man  had  two  horses.  We  immediately  struck  out  for  the  Kansas 
line,  which  we  crossed  at  the  Indian  ferry  on  the  Kansas  River, 
above  Wyandotte,  and  as  soon  as  we  had  set  foot  upon  Kansas 
soil  we  separated  with  the  understanding  that  we  were  to  meet 
one  week  from  that  day  at  Leavenworth. 

Some  of  the  parties  boldly  took  their  confiscated  horses  into 
Leavenworth,  while  others  rode  them  to  their  homes.  This 
action  may  look  to  the  reader  like  horse-stealing,  and  some  people 
might  not  hesitate  to  call  it  by  that  name ;  but  Chandler  plausibly 
maintained  that  we  were  only  getting  back  our  own,  or  the 
equivalent,  from  the  Missourians,  and  as  the  government  was 
waging  war  against  the  South,  it  was  perfectly  squard  and  honest, 
and  we  had  a  good  right  to  do  it.  So  we  didn't  let  Air  con- 
sciences trouble  us  very  much. 

We  continued  to  make  similar  raids  upon  the  Missourians  off 
and  on  during  the  summer,  and  occasionally  we  had  running 
fights  with  them;  none  of  the  skirmishes,  however,  amounting  to 
much.  The  government  officials  hearing  of  our  operations,  put  de- 
tectives upon  our  track,  and  several  of  the  party  were  arrested. 
My  mother,  upon  learning  that  I  was  engaged  in  this  business, 
told  me  it  was  neither  i^norable  nor  right,  and  she  would  not 
for  a  moment  countenance  any  such  proceedings.  Consequently 
I  abandoned  the  jay-hawking  enterprise, for  such  it  really  was. 


472  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

After  abandoning  the  enterprise  of  crippling  the  Confederacy 
|>y  appropriating  the  horses  of  non-combatants,  I  went  to 
Leavenworth,  where  I  met  my  old  friend,  Wild  Bill,  who  was  on 
,the  point  of  departing  for  Rqlla,  Mo.,  to  assume  the  position  of 
wagon  master  of  a  government  train.  At  his  request  to  join  him 
as  an  assistant  I  cheerfully  accompanied  him  to  Rolla,  where  we 
loaded  a  number  of  wagons  with  government  freight  and  drove 
them  to  Springfield. 

BUSTED    AT  A  HORSE-RACE. 

On  our  return  to  Rolla  we  heard  a  great  deal  of  talk  about  the 
approaching  fall  races  at  St.  Louis,  and  Wild  Bill  having  brought 
a  fast  running  horse  from  the  mountains,  determined  to  take  him 
to  that  city  and  match  him  against  some  of  the  high-flyers  there  ; 
and  down  to  St.  Louis  we  went  with  this  running  horse,  placing 
our  hopes  very  high  on  him. 

Wild  Bill  had  no  difficulty  in  making  up  a  race  for  him.  All 
the  money  that  he  and  I  had  we  put  up  on  the  mountain  runner, 
and  as  we  thought  we  had  a  sure  thing,  we  also  bet  the  horse 
against  $250.  I  rode  the  horse  myself,  but  nevertheless,  our 
sure  thing,  like  many  another  sure  thing,  proved  a  total  failure, 
and  we  came  out  of  that  race  minus  the  horse  and  every  dollar 
we  had  in  the  world. 

Before  the  race  it  had  been  "  make  or  break  "with  us,  and  we 
got '  *  broke. ' '  We  were  * £  busted ' '  in  the  largest  city  we  had  ever 
been  in,  and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  we  felt  mighty  blue. 

On  the  morning  after  the  race  we  went  to  the  military  head- 
quarters, where  Bill  succeeded  in  securing  an  engagement  for 
himself  as  a  government  scout,  but  I  being  so  young  failed  in 
obtaining  similar  employment.  Wild  Bill,  however,  raised  some 
money,  by  borrowing  it  from  a  friend,  and  then  buying  me  a 
steamboat  ticket  he  sent  me  back  to  Leavenworth,  while  he  went 
to  Springfield,  which  place  he  made  his  headquarters  while  scout- 
ing in  Southeastern  Missouri. 

A  DUEL  IN  THE  S^rfEET. 

One  night,  after  he  had  returned  from  a  scouting  expedition, 
he  took  a  hand  in  a  game  of  poker,  and  in  the  course  of  the  play 


AUTQBJQGRARHY 


473 


he  became  involved  in  a -quarrel  with  Dave  Tutt,  a  professional 
gambler,  about  a  watch  which  he  had  won  from  Tutt,  but  who 
would  not  give  it  up. 

Bill  told  him  he  had  won  it  fairly,  and  that  he  proposed  to  have 
it;  furthermore,  he  declared  his  intention  'of  carrying  the  watch 
across  the  street  next  morning  to  military  headquarters,  at  which 
place  he  had  to  report,  at  nine 
o?  clock.  To  which  boast  Tutt 
replied  that  he  would  himself 
carry  the  twatch  across  the  street 
at  nine  o'clock,  and  no  other  man 
would  do  it. 

1  ( If  you  ,make  the  attempt 
one  of  us  will  have  to.  die  at  the 
hour  named,"  was  the  answer 
Bill  returned,  and  then  walked 
carelessly  away. 

A  challenge  to  a  duel  had  vir- 
tually been  given  and  accepted) 
and  everybody  knewi that  the  two 
men  meant  business.  At  nine 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  Tutt 
started  to  cross  the  street.  Wild 
Bill,  who  was  standing  on  the 
opposite  side,  told  him  to  stop. 
At  that  moment  Tutt,  who  was  WILD  BILT/S  DUEL  WITH  DAVE  TUTT. 
carrying  his  revolver  in  his  hand,  fired  at  Bill^but  missed  him. 
Bill  quickly  pulled  out  his  revolver  and  returned  the  fire,  hitting 
Tutt  squarely  in  the  forehead  and  killing  him  instantly. 

Quite  a  number  of  Tutt's  friends  were  standing  in  the  vicin- 
ity, having  assembled  to  witness  the  duel,  and  Bill,  as  soon  as 
Tutt  fell  to  the  ground,  turned  to  them  ^nd  asked  if  any  one  of 
them  wanted  to  take  it  up  for  Tutt ;  if  so,  he  would  accommo- 
date any  of  them  then  and  there.  But  none  of  them  cared  to 
stand  in  front  of  Wild  Bill  to  be  shot  at  by  him.  Nothing  of 
Course  was  ever  clone  to  Bill  for  the  killing  of  Tutt. 


474 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


HOW  I  BECAME  A  SOLDIER. 

ARLY  in  the  fall  of  1861 1  made  a  trip 
to  Fort  Larned,  Kansas,  carrying  mili- 
tary dispatches,  and  in  the  winter  I 
accompanied  George  Long  through  the 
country,  and  assisted  him  in  buying 
horses  for  the  government. 

The  next  spring,  1862,  an  expedition 
against  the  Indians  was  organized, 
consisting  of  a  volunteer  regiment, 
the  Ninth  Kansas  under  Colonel  Clark . 
This  expedition,  which  I  had  joined  in 
the  capacity  of  guide  and  scout,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Kiowa  and  Comanche 
country,  on  the  Arkansas  river, 
along  which  stream  we  scouted  all  summer  between  Fort  Lyon 
and  Fort  Larned,  on  the  old  Santa*  Fe  trail.  We  had  several  en- 
gagements with  the  Indians,  but  they  were  of  no  great  import- 
ance. 

In  the  winter  of  1862,  I  became  one  of  the  "Red  Legged 
Scouts,"  —  a  company  of  scouts  commanded  by  Captain  Tuff. 
Among  its  members  were  some  of  the  most  noted  Kansas  Ran- 

O 

gers,  such  as  Rad  Clark,  the  St.  Clair  brothers,  Jack  Harvey,  an 
old  pony  express-rider  named  Johnny  Fry,  and  many  other  well 
known  frontiersmen.  Our  field  of  operations  was  confined 
mostly  to  the  Arkansas  country  and  Southwestern  Missouri.  We 
had  many  a  lively  skirmish  with  the  bushwhackers  and  Younger 
brothers,  and  when  we  were  not  hunting  them,  we  were  generally 
employed  in  carrying  dispatches  between  Forts  Dodge,  Gibson, 
Leavenworth  and  other  posts.  Whenever  we  were  in  Leaven- 
worth  we  had  a  very  festive  time.  We  usually  attended  all  the 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  475 

balls  in  full  force,  and  "  ran  things"  to  suit  ourselves.  Thus  I 
passed  the  winter  of  1862  and  the  spring  of  1863. 

Subsequently  I  engaged  to  conduct  a  small  train  to  Denver  for 
some  merchants,  and  on  reaching  that  place  in  September,  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  stating  that  my  mother  was  not  expected  to  live. 
I  hastened  home,  and  found  her  dangerously  ill.  She  grew  grad- 
ually worse,  and  at  last,  on  the  22d  of  November,  1863,  she  died. 
Thus  passed  away  a  loving  and  affectionate  mother  and  a  noble, 
brave,  good  and  loyal  woman. . 

Previous  to  this  sad  event  my  sister  Julia  had  been  married  to 
a  gentleman  named  J.  A.  Goodman,  and  they  now  came  to  reside 
at  our  house  and  take  charge  of  the  children,  as  my  mother  had 
desired  that  they  should  not  be  separated.  Mr.  Goodman  became 
the  guardian  of  the  minor  children. 

WITH    THE    JAY-HAWKERS. 

I  soon  left  the  home  now  rendered  gloomy  by  the  absence  of 
her  whom  I  had  so  tenderly  loved  and  going  to  Leavenworth  I 
entered  upon  a  dissolute  and  reckless  life  —  to  my  shame  be  it 
said  —  and  associated  with  gamblers,  drunkards,  and  bad  charac- 
ters generally.  1  continued  my  dissipation  about  two  months t 
and  was  becoming  a  very  ' '  hard  case."  About  this  time  the  Sev- 
enth Kansas  regiment,  known  as  "  Jennison's  Jay-hawkers," 
returned  from  the  war,  and  re-enlisted  and  re- organized  as  veter- 
ans. Among  them  I  met  quite  a  number  of  my  old  comrades 
and  neighbors,  who  tried  to  induce  rne  to  enlist  and  go  South 
with  them.  I  had  no  idea  of  doing  anything  of  the  kind;  but 
one  day,  after  having  been  under  the  influence  of  bad  whisky,  I 
awoke  to  find  myself  a  soldier  in  the  Seventh  Kansas.  I  did  not 
remember  how  or  when  I  had  enlisted,  but  I  saw  I  was  in  for  it, 
and  that  it  would  not  do  for  me  to  endeavor  to  back  out. 

In  the  spring  of  1864  the  regiment  was  ordered  to  Tennessee t 
and  we  got  into  Memphis  just  about  the  time  that  General  Stur- 
gis  was  so  badly  whipped  by  General  Forrest.  General  A.  J. 
Smith  re-organized  the  army  to  operate  against  Forrest,  and  after 
marching  to  Tupalo,  Mississippi,  we  had  an  engagement  with  him 


476 


STORY   OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 


and  defeated  him.  This  kind  of  tfighjting  was  all  new  to  me,  be- 
ing entirely  different  from  any  in  which  I  had  ever  before  en- 
gaged. I  soon  became. a  non-commissioned  officer,  and  was  put 
op  detached  service  as  a  scout. 

After    skirmishing  around  the  country  with  the  rest  of.  the 

army  •  for  some  little 
time,  our  regiment 
returned  -to  Memphis, 
b,u  t  w  as  immediately 
ordered  to  Cape  Gira- 
deau,  in  Missouri,  as  a 
Confederate  force  under 
General  Price  was  ,  then 
raiding  ithat  State.  The 
command  of  which  my 
regiment  was  a  part 
hurried  to  the  front  to  in- 

WILD  BILL.  tercept  Price,  and  our  first 

fight  with  him  occurred  at  Pilot  Knob.  From  that  time  for 
nearly  six  weel^s  we  fought  or  skirmished  every  day. 

A   SINGULAR   MEETING   WITH   WILD    BILL. 

I  was  still  acting  as  a  scout,  when  one  day  I  rode  ahead  of  the 
command,  some  considerable  distance,  to  pick  up  all  possible  in- 
formation concerning  Price's  movements.  I  was  dressed  in 
gray  clothes,  or  Missouri  jeans,  and  on  riding  up  to  a  farm  house 
and  entering  I  saw  a  man,  also  dressed  in  gray  costume,  sitting 
at  a  table  eating  bread  and  milk.  He  looked  up  as  I  entered,  and 
startled  me  by  saying :  — 

"You  little  rascal,  what  are  you  doing  in  those  'secesh' 
clothes?"  Judge  of  my  surprise  when  I  recognized  in  the 
stranger  my  old  friend  and  partner,  Wild  Bill,  disguised  as  a  Con- 
federate officer. 

"  I  ask  you  the  same  question,  sir,"  said  I,  without  the  least 
hesitation. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  47? 

"Hush!  sit  down  and  have  some  bread  and  milk,  and  we'll 
talk  it  all  over  afterwards,"  said  he. 

I  accepted  the  invitation  and  partook  of  the  refreshments. 
Wild  Bill  paid  the  woman  of  the  house,  and  we  went  out  to  the 
gate  where  my  horse  was  standing. 

"  Billy,'  my  boy,"  said  he  "  I  am  mighty  glad  to  see  you.  I 
haven't  seen  or  heard  of  you  since  we  got  busted  on  that  St. 
Louis  horse  race." 

"  What  are  you  doing  here?"  I  asked. 

"  I  am  a  scout  under  General  McNiel.  For  the  last  few  days 
I  have  been  with  General  Matmaduke's  division  of  Price's  army, 
in  disguise  as  a  Southern  officer  from  Texas^  las  you  see  me  now," 
said  he. 

"'**  That's  exactly  the  kind  of  business  that  I  am  out  on  to-day," 
said  I;  "  and  I  want  to  get  some  information  concerning  Price's 
movements." 

"I'll  give  you  all  that  I  have;"  and  he  then  went  o'ri  and  told 
me  all  tbat  he  knew  regarding  Price's  intentions,  and  the  number 
and  condition  of  his  men.  He  then  asked  about  iny*  mother,  and" 
when  lie  learned  that  she  was  dead  he  was  greatly  surprised  and 
grieved ;  he  thought  a  great  deal  of  her,  for  she  had  treated  him 
almost  as  one  of  her  own  children.  He  finally  took  out  a  pack- 
age, which  he  had  concealed  about  his  person,  and  handing  it  to 
me  he  said:  — 

"  Here  are  some  letters  which  I  want  you  to  give  to  General 
McNeil. 

"'  All  right,"  said  I  as  I  took  them,  "  but  where,  will  I  meet 
you  again?" 

"  Never  mind  that,"  he  replied;  "I  am  getting  so  much  val- 
uable information  that  I  propose  to  stay  a  little  while  longer  in ' 
this  disguise."  Thereupon  we  shook  hands  and  parted. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  mluch  concerning  Price's  raid  in  gen- 
eral, as  that  event  is  a  matter  of  recorded  history.  I  am  only 
relating  the  incidents  in  which  I  was  personally  interested  either 
as  one  of  the  actors  or  as  an  observer. 


478  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 


A  PLEASANT  LITTLE  EPISODE. 

Another  interesting,  and  I  may  say  exciting,  episode  happened 
to  me  a  day  or  two  after  my  unexpected  meeting  with  Wild  Bill. 
I  was  riding  with  the  advance  guard  of  our  army,  and  wishing  a 
drink  of  water,  I  stopped  at  a  farm  house.  There  were  no  men 
about  the  premises,  and  no  one  excepting  a  very  fine  and  intel- 
lectual looking  lady  and  her  two  daughters.  They  seemed  to  be 
almost  frightened  to  death  at  seeing  me  —  a  * '  yank  ' '  —  appear 
before  them.  I  quieted  their  fears  somewhat  and  the  mother 
then  asked  me  how  far  back  the  army  was.  When  I  told  her  it 
would  be  along  shortly,  she  expressed  her  fears  that  they  would 
take  everything  on  the  premises.  They  set  me  out  a  lunch  and 
treated  me  very  kindly,  so  that  I  really  began  to  sympathize  with 
them ;  for  I  knew  that  the  soldiers  would  ransack  their  house  and 
confiscate  everything  they  could  lay  their  hands  on.  At  last  I 
resolved  to  do  what  I  could  to  protect  them. 

After  the  generals  and  the  staff  officers  had  passed  by,  I  took 
it  upon  myself  to  be  a  sentry  over  the  house.  When  the  com- 
mand came  along  some  of  the  men  rushed  up  with  the  intention 
of  entering  the  place  and  carrying  off  all  the  desirable  plunder 
possible,  and  then  tearing  and  breaking  everything  to  pieces,  as 
they  usually  did  along  the  line  of  march. 

"  Halt!"  I  shouted  ;  "  I  have  been  placed  here  by  the  com- 
manding officer  as  a  guard  over  this  house,  and  no  man  must  enter 
it."  This  stopped  the  first  squad;  and  seeing  that  my  plan  was 
a  success,  I  remained  at  my  post  during  the  passage  of  the  entire 
command  and  kept  out  all  intruders. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  ladies  could  not  thank  me  sufficiently  for 
the  protection  I  had  afforded  them.  They  were  perfectly  aware 
of  the  fact  that  I  had  acted  without  orders  and  entirely  on  my 
own  responsibility,  and  therefore  they  felt  the  more  grateful. 
They  urgently  invited  me  to  remain  a  little  while  longer  and  par- 
take of  an  excellent  dinner  which  they  said  they  were  preparing 
for  me.  I  was  pretty  hungry  about  that  time,  as  our  rations  had 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  479 

been  rather  slim  of  late,  and  a  good  dinner  was  a  temptation  I 
could  not  withstand,  especially  as  it  was  served  up  by  such  ele- 
gant ladies.  While  I  was  eating  the  meal  I  was  most  agreeably 
entertained  by  the  young  ladies,  and  before  I  finished  it  the  last 
of  the  rear-guard  was  at  least  two  miles  beyond  the  house. 

Suddenly  three  men  entered  the  room,  and  I  looked  up  and  saw 
three  double-barreled  shot-guns  leveled  straight  at  me.  Before 
I  could  speak,  however,  the  mother  and  her  daughters  sprang 
between  the  men  and  me. 

4 'Father!  Boys!  Lower  your  guns!  You  must  not  shoot 
this  man,"  and  similar  exclamations  were  uttered  by  all  three. 
The  guns  were  lowered  and  then  the  men,  who  were  the 
father  and  brothers  of  the  young  ladies,  were  informed  of  what 
I  had  done  for  them.  It  appeared  that  they  had  been  concealed 
in  the  woods  near  by  while  the  army  was  passing,  and  on  coming 
into  the  house  and  finding  a  Yankee  there,  they  determined  to 
shoot  him.  Upon  learning  the  facts,  the  old  man  extended  his 
hand  to  me,  saying:  — 

"I  would  not  harm  a  hair  of  your  head  for  the  world;  but  it 
is  best  that  you  stay  here  no  longer,  as  your  command  is  some 
distance  in  advance  now,  and  you  might  be  cut  off  by  bush- 
whackers before  reaching  it." 

Bidding  them  all  good-bye,  and  with  many  thanks  from  the 
mother  and  daughters,  I  mounted  my  horse  and  soon  over- 
took the  column,  happy  in  the  thought  that  I  had  done  a  good 
deed,  and  with  no  regrets  that  I  had  saved  from  pillage  and  de- 
struction the  home  and  property  of  a  Confederate  and  his 
family. 

Our  command  kept  crowding  against  Price  and  his  army  until 
they  were  pushed  into  the  vicinity  of  Kansas.  City,  where  their 
further  advance  was  checked  by  United  States  troops  from  Kan- 
sas ;  and  then  was  begun  their  memorable  and  extraordinary  re- 
treat back  into  Kansas. 

A  WONDERFUL     ESCAPE, 

While  both  armies  were  drawn  up  in  skirmish  line  near  For* 
Scott  Kansas,  two  men  on  horseback  were  seen  rapidly  leaving 


480'  STORT*  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

the  Confederate  lines,  and  suddenly  they  made  a  dash  towards 
us.  Instantly  quick  volleys  were  discharged  from  the  Confeder- 
ates, who  also  began  a  pursuit,  and  some  five  hundred  shots  were 
fired  at  the  flying  men.  It  was  evident  that  they  were  trying  to 
reach  our  lines,  but' when  within -about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  us, 
one  of  them  fell  from  his  horse  to  rise  no  more.  He  had  beer: 
fatally  shot.  His  companion  galloped  on  unhurt,  and  seven 
companies  of  our  regiment  charged  out  and  met  him^  and  checked 
his  pursuers.  The  fugitive  was  dressed  in  Confederate  uniform, 
and  as  he  rode  into  our  lines  I  recognized  him  as  Wild  Bill,  the 
Union  scout.  He  immediately  sought  Generals  Pleasanton  and 
McNiel,  with  whom  he  held  a  consultation.  He  told  them  that 
although  Price  made  a  bold  showing  on  the  front,  by  bringing  all 
his  men  into  view,  yet  he  was  really  a  great  deal  weaker  than  the 
appearance  of  his  lines  would  indicate ;  and  that  he  was  then  try- 
ing to  cross  a  difficult  stream  four  miles  from  Fort  Scott. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  but  General  Pleasanton-  immedi- 
ately ordered  an  advance,  and  we  charged  in  full  force  upon  the 
rear  of  Price's  army,  and  drove  it  before  us  for  two  hours. 

If  Wild  Bill  could  have  made  his  successful  dash  into  our  linea 
earlier  in  the -day,  the  attack  would  have  been  made  sooner,  and 
greater  results  might  have  been  expected.  The  Confederates 
had:  suspected  him  of  being  a  spy  for  two  or  three  days,  and  had 
watohed  him  too  closely  to  allow  an  opportunity  to  get  away  from 
them  sooner.  His  unfortunate  companion  who  had  been  shot* 
was  a  scout  from  Springfield,  Missouri,  whose  name  I  cannot  now 
remember. 

From  this  time  on,  Wild  Bill  and  myself  continued  to  scout 
together  until  Price's  army  was  driven  south  of  the  Arkansas 
river  and  the  pursuit  abandoned. 

j ' 

,-j  <  •  ' 


.  f.i'l 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


481 


CHAPTER    VII. 


COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE. 

AMP-LIFE  and  fighting  guerrillas  is  not  a  very 
desirable  occupation,  and  even  scouting  in 
the  service  is  not  so  agreeable  as  making  love 
to  pretty  girls;  appreciating  this  fact,  after 
nearly  four  years  of  hardships  along  the  ad- 
vance, I  was  very  much  pleased  with  the 
change  when  in  the  winter  of  1864-65  I  waa 
permitted  to  spend  a  time  at  military  head- 
quarters in  St.  Louis  on  detached  service.  It  was  while  I  was  in 
this  pleasing  situation  that  I  became  acquainted  with  a  young 
lady  named  Louisa  Frederici,  whom  I  greatly  admired  and  in 
whose  charming  society  I  spent  many  a  pleasant  hour. 

The  war  closing  in  1865,  I  was  discharged,  and  after  a  brief 
visit  at  Leavenworth  I  returned  to  St.  Louis,  having  made  up 
my  mind  to  capture  the  heart  of  Miss  Frederici,  whom  I  now 
adored  above  any  other  young  lady  that  I  had  ever  seen. 
Her  lovely  face,  her  gentle  disposition  and  her  graceful  man- 
ners, won  my  admiration  and  love ;  and  I  was  not  slow  in  de- 
claring my  sentiments  to  her.  The  result  was  that  I  obtained  her 
consent  to  marry  me  in  the  near  future,  and  when  I  bade  her 
good-bye  I  considered  myself  one  of  the  happiest  of  men. 

Meantime  I  drove  a  string  of  horses  from  Leavenworth  to  Fort 
Kearney,  where  I  met  my  old  friend  Bill  Trotter,  who  was  then 
division  stage  agent.  He  employed  me  at  once  to  drive  stage 
between  Kearney  and  Plum  Creek,  the  road  running  near  the 
spot  where  I  had  my  first  Indian  fight  with  the  McCarthy  broth- 
ers, and  where  I  killed  my  first  Indian,  nearly  nine  years  before. 
I  drove  stage  over  this  route  until  February,  1866,  and  while 
bounding  over  the  cold,  dreary  road  day  after  day,  my  thoughts 
turned  continually  towards  my  promised  bride,  until  I  at  last  de- 


31 


482 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


termined  to  abandon  staging  forever,  and  marry  and  settle  down. 
Immediately  after  coming  to  this  conclusion,  I  went  to  St. 
Louis,  where  I  was  most  cordially  received  by  my  sweetheart; 
it  was  arranged  between  us  that  our  wedding  should  take  place 
on  the  6th  day  of  March  following. 

At  last  the  day  arrived  and  the  wedding  ceremony  was  per- 
formed at  the  residence  of  the  bride's  parents,  in  the  presence 
of  a  large  number  of  invited  friends,  whose  hearty  congratula- 
tions we  received.  I  was  certainly  to  be  congratulated,  for  I 
had  become  possessed  of  a  lovely  and  noble  woman,  and  as  I 


OVERLAND   STAGE    COACH. 

gazed  upon  her  as  she  stood  beside  me  arrayed  in  her  wedding 
costume,  I  indeed  felt  proud  of  her;  and  from  that  time  to  this 
I  have  alway  thought  that  I  made  a  most  fortunate  choice  for  a  life 
partner. 

BRIDAL  TRIP  ON   A  MISSOURI  STEAMER. 

An  hour  after  the  ceremony  we  —  my  bride  and  myself  -~- 
were  on  board  of  a  Missouri  river  steamboat,  bound  for  our 
new  home  in  Kansas.  My  wife's  parents  had  accompanied  us 
to  the  boat,  and  had  bidden  us  a  fond  farewell  and  a  God-speed 
on  our  journey. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  483 

During  the  trip  up  the  river  several  very  amusing,  yet  awk- 
ward, incidents  occurred,  some  of  which  I  cannot  resist  relating. 
There  happened  to  be  on  board  the  boat  an  excursion  party 
from  Lexington,  Missouri,  and  those  comprising  it  seemed  to 
shun  me,  for  some  reason  which  at  the  time  I  could  not  account 
for.  They  would  point  at  me,  and  quietly  talk  among  them- 
selves, and  eye  me  very  closely.  Their  actions  seemed  very 
strange  to  me.  After  the  boat  had  proceeded  some  little  dis 
tance,  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  several  families  from  Indiana, 
who  were  en  route  to  Kansas.  A  gentleman,  who  seemed  to  be 
the  leader  of  these  colonists  said  to  me,  "  The  people  of  this 
excursion  party  don't  seem  to  have  any  great  love  for  you." 

"  What  does  it  mean?"  I  asked;"  what  are  they  saying?  It's 
all  a  mystery  to  me." 

"  They  say  that  you  are  one  of  the  Kansas  jay-hawkers,  and 
one  of  Jennison's  house  burners,"  replied  the  gentleman. 

"lam  from  Kansas- — that's  true;  and  was  a  soldier  and  a 
scout  in  the  Union  army,"  said  I;  "  and  I  was  in  Kansas  during 
the  border  ruffian  war  of  1856.  Perhaps  these  people  know  who 
I  am,  and  that  explains  their  hard  looks."  I  had  a  lengthy  con- 
versation with  this  gentleman  — ^  for  such  he  seemed  to  be  —  and 

o 

entertained  him  with  several  chapters  of  the  history  of  the  early 
Kansas  troubles,  and  told  him  the  experiences  of  my  own 
family. 

In  the  evening  the  Lexington  folks  got  up  a  dance,  but  neither 
the  Indiana  people,  my  wife  or  myself  were  invited  to  join  them. 
My  new-found  friend  thereupon  came  to  me  and  said:  "  Mr. 
Cody,  let  us  have  a  dance  of  our  own." 

{'  Very  well,"  was  my  reply. 

"  We  have  some  musicians  along  with  us,  so  we  can  have 
plenty  of  music,"  remarked  the  gentleman. 

".Good  enough!"  said  I,  "  and  I  will  hire  the  negro  barber 
to  play  the  violin  for  us.  He  is  a  good  fiddler,  as  I  heard  him 
playing  only  a  little  while  ago."  The  result  was  that  we  soon 
organized  a  good  string  band  and  had  a  splendid  dance,  keeping 
it  up  as  long  as  the  Lexington  party  did  theirs. 


484  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


A    CLOSE    CALL. 

The  second  day  out  from  St.  Louis  the  boat  stopped  to  wo< 
up  at  a  wild  looking  landing.     Suddenly  twenty  horsemen  wei 
seen  galloping  up  through  the  timber,  and  as  they  came  n< 
the  boat  they  fired  on  the  negro  deck-hands,  against  whom  thej 
seemed  to  have  a  special  grudge,  and  who  were  engaged  in  thro^ 
ing  wood  on  board.     The  negroes  all  quickly  jumped  on  the  bo* 
and  pulled  in  the  gang-plank,  and  the  captain  had  only  just  tim< 
to  get  the  steamer  out  into  the  stream  before  the  bushwhackers 
for  such  they  proved  to  be  —  appeared  on  the  bank. 

"  Where  is  the  black  Abolition  jay-hawker?"  shouted  the 
leader.  "  Show  him  to  us,  and  we'll  shoot  him,'*  yelled  another. 
But  as  the  boat  had  got  well  out  in  the  river  by  this  time  they 
could  not  board  us,  and  the  captain  ordering  a  full  head  of  steam, 
pulled  out  and  left  them. 

I  afterwards  ascertained  that  some  of  the  Missourians,  who 
were  with  the  excursion  party,  were  bushwhackers  themselves, 
and  had  telegraphed  to  their  friends  from  some  previous  landing 
that  I  was  on  board,  telling  them  to  come  to  the  landing  which 
we  had  just  left  and  take  me  off.  Had  the  villains  captured  me 
they  would  have  undoubtedly  put  an  end  to  my  career,  and  the 
public  would  never  have  had  the  pleasure  of  being  bored  by  this 
autobiography. 

I  noticed  that  my  wife  felt  grieved  over  the  manner  in  which 
these  people  had  treated  me.  Just  married,  she  was  going  into 
a  new  country,  and  seeing  how  her  husband  was  regarded,  how 
he  had  been  shunned,  and  how  his  life  had  been  threatened,  I 
was  afraid  she  might  come  to  the  conclusion  too  soon  that  she 
had  wedded  a  "  hard  customer."  So  when  the  boat  landed  at 
Kansas  City  I  telegraphed  to  some  of  my  friends  in  Leavenworth 
that  I  would  arrive  there  in  the  evening.  My  object  was  to  have 
my  acquaintances  give  me  a  reception,  so  that  my  wife  could  see 
that  I  really  did  have  some  friends  and  was  not  so  bad  a  man  as 
the  bushwhackers  tried  to  make  out. 

Just  as  I  expected,  when  the  boat  reached   Leavenworth  I 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  485 

found  a  general  round-up  of  friends  at  the  landing  to  receive  us. 
There  were  about  sixty  gentlemen  and  ladies.  They  had  a  band 
of  music  with  them  and  we  were  given  a  fine  serenade.  Taking 
carriages,  we  all  drove  to  South  Leavenworth  to  the  home  of  my 
sister  Eliza,  who  had  married  George  Myers,  and  there  we  were 
given  a  very  handsome  reception.  All  this  cheered  up  my  wife, 
who  concluded  that  I  was  not  a  desperado  after  all. 

KEEPING   A   HOTEL. 

Having  promised  my  wife  that  I  would  abandon  the  plains,  I 
rented  a  hotel  in  Salt  Creek  Valley  —  the  same  house,  by  the 
way,  which  my  mother  had  formerly  kept,  but  which  was  then 
owned  by  Dr.  J.  J.  Crook,  late  surgeon  of  the  7th  Kansas. 
This  hotel  I  called  the  Golden  Rule  House,  and  I  kept  it  until 
the  next  September.  People  generally  said  I  made  a  good  land- 
lord and  knew  how  to  run  a  hotel  — a  business  qualification 
which,  it  is  said,  is  possessed  by  comparatively  few  men.  But 
it  proved  too  tame  employment  for  me,  and  again  I  sighed  for 
the  freedom  of  the  plains.  Believing  that  I  could  make  more 
money  out  West  on  the  frontier  than  I  could  at  Salt  Creek  Yal- 
ley,  I  sold  out  the  Golden  Rule  House  and  started  alone  for 
Saline,  Kansas,  which  was  then  the  end  of  the  track  of  the 
Kansas  Pacific  railway,  which  was  at  that  time  being  built  across 
the  plains.  On  my  way  I  stopped  at  Junction  City,  where  I 
again  met  my  old  friend  Wild  Bill,  who  was  scouting  for  the 
government,  his  headquarters  being  at  Fort  Ellsworth,  afterwards 
called  Fort  Harker.  He  told  me  that  they  needed  more  scouts 
at  this  post,  and  I  accordingly  accompanied  him  to  that  fort, 
where  I  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  employment. 

During  the  winter  of  1866-67,  I  scouted  between  Fort  Ells- 
worth and  Fort  Fletcher.  In  the  spring  of  1867  I  was  at  Fort 
Fletcher,  when  General  Custer  came  out  to  go  on  an  Indian  ex- 
pedition with  General  Hancock.  I  remained  at  this  post  until  it 
was  drowned  out  by  the  heavy  floods  of  Big  creek,  on  which  it 
was  located ;  the  water  rose  about  the  fortifications  and  rendered 
the  place  unfit  for  occupancy  ;  so  the  government  abandoned  the 


486  STORY   OP   THE   WILD   WEST. 

fort  and  moved  the  troops  and  supplies  to  a  new  post  —  which 
had  been  named  Fort  Hays  —  located  further  west,  on  the  south 
fork  of  Big  creek.  It  was  while  scouting  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Hays  that  I  had  my  first  ride  with  the  dashing  and  gallant  Custer, 
who  had  come  up  to  the  post  from  Fort  Ellsworth  with  an  escort 
of  only  ten  men.  He  wanted  a  guide  to  pilot  him  to  Fort  Larned, 
u  distance  of  sixty-five  miles  across  the  country. 

ACTING  AS  GUIDE  TO  OUSTER. 

I  was  ordered  by  the  commanding  officer  to  guide   General 
Custer  to  his  desired  destination,  and  I  soon  received  word  from 

the  General  that  he  would  start 
out  in  the  morning  with  the  in- 
tention of  making  the  trip  in 
one  day.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing, after  a  good  night's  rest,  I 
was  on  hand,  mounted  on  my 
large  mouse-colored  mule  —  an 
animal  of  great  endurance  — 
and  ready  for  the  journey; 
when  the  General  saw  me  he 
said:  — 

"  Cody,  I  want  to  travel  fast 
and  go  through  as  quickly  as 

GEN.    GEO.     A.    CUSTER.  .,,  i  T    i        >j.  J.T  •     i     A.I 

possible,  and  I  don  t  think  that 
mule  of  yours  is  fast  enough  to  suit  me." 

II  General,  never  mind  the  mule,"  said  I,  "  he'll  get  there  as 
soon  as  your  horses.     That  mule  is  a  good  one,",  as  I  knew  that 
the  animal  was  better  than  most  horses. 

"  Very  well;  go  ahead,  then,"  said  he,  though  he  looked  as  if 
he  thought  I  would  delay  the  party  on  the  road. 

For  the  first  fifteen  miles,  until  we  came  to  the  Smoky  Hill 
river,  which  we  were  to  cross,  I  could  hardly  keep  the  mule  in  ad- 
vance of  the  General,  who  rode  a  frisky,  impatient  and  ambitious 
thoroughbred  steed;  in  fact,  the  whole  party  was  finely  mounted. 
The  General  repeatedly  told  me  that  the  mule  was  "  no  good" 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  487 

and  that  I  ought  to  have  had  a  good  horse.  But  after  crossing  the 
river,  and  striking  the  sand-hills,  I  began  letting  my  mule  out  a 
little,  and  putting  the  "  persuaders  "  to  him.  He  was  soon  out- 
traveling  the  horses,  and  by  the  time  we  had  made  about  half  the 
distance  to  Fort  Larned,  I  occasionally  had  to  wait  for  the  Gen- 
eral or  some  of  his  party,  as  their  horses  were  beginning  to  show 
signs  of  fatigue. 

*«  General,  how  about  this  mule,  anyhow?"  I  asked  at  last. 

"Cody,  you  have  a  better  vehicle  than  I  thought  you  had," 
was  his  reply. 

From  that  time  on  to  Fort  Larned  I  had  no  trouble  in  keep- 
ing ahead  of  the  party.  We  rode  into  the  fort  at  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  with  about  half  the  escort  only,  the  rest  having 
lagged  far  behind. 

A  FIGHT   WITH  THE  INDIANS. 

General  Custer  thanked  me  for  having  brought  him  straight 
across  the  country  without  any  trail,  and  said  that  if  I  were  not 
engaged  as  post-scout  at  Fort  Hays  he  would  like  to  have  me 
accompany  him  as  one  of  his  scouts  during  the  summer ;  and  he 
added  that  whenever  I  was  out  of  employment,  if  I  would  come 
to  him  he  would  find  something  for  me  to  do.  This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  rny  acquaintance  with  General  Custer,  whom  I  always 
admired  as  a  man  and  as  an  officer. 

A  few  days  after  my  return  to  Fort  Hays,  the  Indians  made  a 
raid  on  the  Kansas  Pacific  railroad,  killing  five  or  six  men  and 
running  off  about  one  hundred  horses  and  mules.  The  news  was 
brought  to  the  commanding  officer,  who  immediately  ordered 
Major  Arms,  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry  —  which,  by  the  way,  was  a 
negro  regiment  —  with  his  company  and  one  mountain  howitzer, 
to  go  in  pursuit  of  the  red-skins,  and  I  was  sent  along  with  the 
expedition  as  scout  and  guide.  On  the  second  day  out  we  sud- 
denly discovered,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Saline  river,  about 
a  mile  distant,  a  large  body  of  Indians,  who  were  charging  down 
upon  us.  Major  Arms,  placing  the  cannon  on  a  little  knoll, 
limbered  it  up  and  left  twenty  men  to  guard  it;  and  then,  with 


488  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

the  rest  of  the  command,  he  crossed  the  river  to  meet  the 
Indians. 

Just  as  he  had  got  the  men  over  the  stream  we  heard  a  terrific 
yelling  and  shouting  in  our  rear,  and  looking  back  to  the  knoll 
where  the  cannon  had  been  stationed,  we  saw  the  negroes,  who 
had  been  left  there  to  guard  the  gun,  flying  toward  us,  being 
pursued  by  about  one  hundred  Indians,  while  another  large  party 
of  the  latter  were  dancing  around  the  captured  cannon ,  as  if  they 
had  secured  a  trophy  that  was  dangerous  for  them  to  handle. 
Major  Arms  soon  turned  his  attention  towards  the  Indians  and 
with  a  sharp  charge  drove  them  from  the  gun  and  recaptured  it, 
but  not  until  the  carriage  was  broken  and  the  gun  rendered  use- 
less. The  fight  became  hotter  when  the  Indians  were  re-enforced 
by  another  large  war  party,  that  now  came  back  at  us  in  fine 
style.  In  this  charge  five  of  our  men  were  killed  and  many  more 
wounded,  among  the  latter  being  Major  Arms  himself.  The 
colored  troops  became  fear-stricken  and  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  prevent  a  panic.  In  this  sorry  condition,  and  the  danger  of 
our  position  becoming  a  perilous  one  if  the  unequal  contest  was 
continued,  Major  Arms  ordered  a  retreat,  which  was  obeyed  with 
singular  spirit  and  alacrity.  The  Indians  pursued  us  for  a  while, 
but  darkness  soon  came  on  and  under  its  protecting  mantle  we 
managed  to  escape,  and  to  reach  Fort  Hays  at  daylight  the  fol- 
lowing morning  in  an  exhausted  condition. 

During  our  absence  on  this  expedition  the  cholera  broke  out 
at  the  post,  from  which  terrible  disease  five  or  six  soldiers  died 
daily,  but  the  colored  troops  had  so  much  less  dread  of  cholera 
than  they  had  of  Indians  that  there  was  no  dearth  of  nurses  for 
the  sick,  as  every  negro  at  the  post  became  a  volunteer  minister 
to  the  cholera  patients. 


490  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

CHAPTER    Vin. 

A  MILLIONAIRE    IN   PROSPECTIVE. 

OON  after  returning  to  Fcrt  Hays  I  was  sent  with 
dispatches  to  Fort  Harker.  After  delivering  the 
messages  I  visited  the  town  of  Ellsworth,  about 
three  miles  west  of  Fort  Harker,  and  there  I 
met  a  man  named  William  Rose,  a  contractor  on 
the  Kansas  Pacific  railroad,  who  had  a  contract 
for  grading  near  Fort  Hays.  His  stock  had 
been  stolen  by  the  Indians,  and  his  visit  to  Ells- 
worth was  to  buy  more, 

During  the  course  of  our  conversation,  Mr.  Rose  incidentally 
remarked  that  he  had  some  idea  of  laying  out  a  town  on  the  west 
side  of  Big  creek,  about  one  mile  from  the  fort,  where  the  rail- 
road was  to  cross.  He  asked  my  opinion  of  the  contemplated 
enterprise,  and  I  told  him  that  I  thought  it  was  "  a  big  thing.'* 
He  then  proposed  taking  me  as  a  partner  in  the  scheme,  and 
suggested  that  after  we  got  the  town  laid  out  and  thrown  open 
to  the  public,  we  should  establish  a  store  and  saloon  there. 

Thinking  it  would  be  a  grand  thing  to  be  half -owner  of  a 
town,  I  at  once  accepted  his  proposition,  We  bought  a  stock  of 
such  articles  as  are  usually  found  in  a  frontier  store,  and  trans- 
ported them  to  the  place  on  Big  creek  where  we  were  to  found 
our  town.  We  hired  a  railroad  engineer  to  survey  the  site  and 
stake  it  off  into  lots;  and  we  gave  the  new  town  the  ancient  and 
historical  name  of  Rome.  As  a  "  starter,"  we  donated  lots  to 
any  cce  who  would  build  on  them,  but  reserved  the  corner  lots 
and  others  which  were  best  located  for  ourselves.  These  re- 
served lets  we  valued  at  fifty  dollars  each. 

A  HOWL  FROM  ROME. 

Our  modern  Rome,  like  all  mushroom  towns  along  the  line  of 
a  new  railroad,  sprang  up  as  i'f  by  magic,  and  in  less  than  one 
month  we  had  two  hundred  frame  and  log  houses,  three  or  four 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  491 

stores,  several  saloons,  and  one  good  hotel.  Rome  was  looming 
up,  and  Rose  and  I  already  considered  ourselves  millionaires, 
and  thought  we  "  had  the  world  by  the  tail."  But  one  day  a 
fine  looking  gentleman,  calling  himself  Dr.  W.  E.  Webb,  ap- 
peared in  town,  and  dropping  into  our  store  introduced  himself 
in  a  very  pleasant  way :  — 

"  Gentlemen,  you've  got  a  very  flourishing  little  town  here. 
Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  a  partner  in  your  enterprise?  " 

11  No,  thank  you,"  said  I,  "  we  have  too  good  a  thing  here  to 
whack  up  with  anybody." 

My  partner  agreed  with  me,  but  the  conversation  was  con- 
tinued, and  at  last  the  stranger  said:  — 

"  Gentlemen,  I  am  the  agent  or  prospector  of  the  Kansas 
Pacific  railroad,  and  my  business  is  to  locate  towns  for  the  com- 
pany along  the  line." 

"  We  think  we  have  the  only  suitable  town-site  in  this  imme- 
diate locality,"  said  Mr.  Rose,  "  and  as  a  town  is  already  started, 
we  have  saved  the  company  considerable  expense." 

"  You  know  as  well  as  I  do,"  said  Dr.  Webb,  "  that  the  com- 
pany expects  to  make  money  by  selling  lands  and  town  lots ;  and 
as  you  are  not  disposed  to  give  the  company  a  show,  or  share 
with  me,  I  shall  probably  have  to  start  another  town  near  you. 
Competition  is  the  life  of  trade,  you  know." 

"  Start  your  town,  if  you  want  to.  We've  got  the  *  bulge ' 
on  you,  and  can  hold  it,"  said  I,  somewhat  provoked  at  his 
threat. 

But  we  acted  too  independently  and  too  indiscreetly  for  our 
own  good.  Dr.  Webb,  the  very  next  day  after  his  interview  with 
us,  began  hauling  material  to  a  spot  about  one  mile  east  of  us, 
where  he  staked  out  a  new  town,  which  he  called  Hays  City. 
He  took  great  pains  to  circulate  in  our  town  the  story  that  the 
railroad  company  would  locate  their  round-houses  and  machine 
shops  at  Hays  City,  and  that  it  was  to  be  the  town  and  a  splendid 
business  center.  A  ruinous  stampede  from  our  place  was  the 
result.  People  who  had  built  in  Rome  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  they  had  settled  in  the  wrong  place ;  they  began  pulling  down 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


their  buildings  and  moving  them 
over  to  Hays  City,  and  in  less 
than  three  days  our  once  flourish- 
ing city  had  dwindled  down  to 
the  little  store  which  Rose  and  I 
had  built. 

It  was  on  a  bright  summer 
morning  that  we  sat  on  a  pine 
box  in  front  of  our  crib,  moodily 
viewing  the  demolition  of  the  last 
building.  Three  days  before  we 
had  considered  ourselves  million- 
aires ;  on  that  morning  we  looked 
around  and  saw  that  we  were  re- 
duced to  the  ragged  edge  of 
proverty .  Our  sanguine  expect- 
ations of  realizing  immense 
fortunes  were  dashed  to  the 
ground  and  we  felt  pretty  blue. 
The  new  town  of  Hays  had  swal- 
lowed Rome  entirely.  Mr.  Rose 
facetiously  remarked  that  he  felt 
like  "  the  last  rose  of  summer," 
with  all  his  lovely  companions 
faded  and  gone,  and  lie  left 
blooming  alone.  I  told  him  I 
was  still  there,  staunch  and  true, 
but  he  replied  that  that  didn't 
help  the  matter  much.  Thus 
ends  the  brief  history  of  the 
"Rise,  Decline  and  Fall"  of 
Modern  Rome. 

It  having  become  evident  to 
me  that  there  was  very  little  hope 
of  Rome  ever  regaining  its  former 
splendor  and  prosperity,  I  sent 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  495 

my  wife  and  daughter  Arta  —  who  had  been  born  at  Leavenworth 
in  the  latter  part  of  December,  1866  —  to  St.  Louis  on  a  visit. 
They  had  been  living  with  me  for  some  little  time  in  the  rear 
part  of  our  "  store. " 

At  this  time  Mr.  Kose  and  myself  had  a  contract  under  Schu- 
macher, Miller  &  Co.,  constructors  of  the  Kansas  Pacific,  for 
grading  five  miles  of  track  westward  from  Big  creek,  and  run- 
jing  through  the  site  of  Rome.  Notwithstanding  we  had  been 
leserted,  we  had  some  small  hope  that  they  would  not  be  able  to 
ret  water  at  the  new  town,  and  that  the  people  would  all  soon 
move  back  to  Rome,  as  we  really  had  the  best  location.  We 
determined,  therefore  to  go  on  with  our  grading  contract,  and 
wait  for  something  better  to  turn  up.  It  was  indeed  hard  for  us, 
who  had  been  millionaires,  to  come  down  to  the  level  of  common 
railroad  contractors  —  but  we  had  to  do  it  all  the  same. 

We  visited  the  new  town  of  Hays  almost  daily,  to  see  how  it 

s  progressing,  and  in  a  short  time  we  became  much  better  ac- 
quainted with  Dr.  Webb,  who  had  reduced  us  from  our  late  in- 
dependent to  our  present  dependent  position.  We  found  him  a 
perfect  gentlemen  —  a  whole-souled,  genial-hearted  fellow,  whom 
everybody  liked  and  respected.  Nearly  every  day  "  Doc."  and 

would  take  a  ride  over  the  prairie  together  and  hunt  buffalo. 

A  LITTLE  SPORT  WITH   THE    HOSTILES. 

On  one  occasion,  having  ventured  about  ten  miles  from  the 
>wn,  we  spied  a  band  of  Indians  not  over  two  miles  distant,  who 
were  endeavoring  to  get  between  us  and  the  town,  and  thus  cut 
us  off.  I  was  mounted  on  my  celebrated  horse  Brigham,  the 
leetest  steed  I  ever  owned.  On  several  subsequent  occasions  he 
saved  my  life,  and  he  was  the  horse  that  I  rode  when  I  killed 
sixty- nine  buffaloes  in  one  day.  Dr.  Webb  was  riding  a  beauti- 
ful thoroughbred  bay,  which  he  had  brought  with  him  from  the 
East.  Having  such  splendid  horses,  we  laughed  at  the  idea  of  a 
band  of  Indians  overtaking  us  on  a  square  run,  no  matter  how 
well  they  might  be  mounted,  but  not  caring  to  be  cut  off  by 
them,  we  ran  our  steeds  about  three  miles  towards  home,  thus 


494 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


getting  between  the  braves  and  the  town.  The  Indians  were  then 
about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  distant,  and  we  stopped  and  waved 
our  hats  at  them,  and  fired  some  shots  at  long  range.  There 
wer©  thirteen  in  the  party,  and  as  they  were  getting  pretty  close 
to  us,  we  struck  out  for  Hays.  They  came  on  in  pursuit  and 
sent  several  scattering  shots  after  us,  but  we  easily  left  them  be- 
hind. They  finally  turned  and  rode  off  towards  the  Saline 
river. 

The  Doctor  thought  this  glorious  sport,  and  panted  to  organ- 
ize a  party  to  go  in  pursuit  of  them,  but  I  induced  him  to  give 
up  this  idea,  although  he  did  so  rather  reluctantly.  The  Doctor 
soon  became  quite  an  expert  hunter,  and  before  he  had  remained 
on  the  prairie  a  year  there  were  but  few  men  in  the  country  who 
could  kill  more  buffaloes  on  a  hunt  than  he. 

Being  aware  that  Rose  and  myself  felt  rather  down-hearted 
over  our  deserted  village,  the  Doctor  one  day  said  that,  as  he  had 
made  the  proprietors  of  Rome  "  howl,"  he  would  give  us  two 
lots  each  in  Hays,  and  did  so.  We  finally  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  our  old  town  was  dead  beyond  redemption  or  revival, 
and  we  thereupon  devoted  our  undivided  attention  to  our  railroad 
contract.  One  day  we  were  pushed  for  horses  to  work  on  our 
scrapers  — so  I  hitched  up  Brigham,  to  see  how  he  would  work. 
He  was  not  much  used  to  that  kind  of  labor,  and  I  was  about  giving 
up  the  idea  of  making  a  work-horse  of  him,  when  one  of  the 
men  called  to  me  that  there  were  some  buffaloes  coming  over  the 
hill.  As  there  had  been  no  buffaloes  seen  anywhere  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  camp  for  several  days,  we  had  become  rather  short  of 
meat,  I  immediately  told  one  of  our  men  to  hitch  his  horses  to  a 
wagon  and  follow  me,  as  I  was  going  out  after  the  herd,  and  we 
would  bring  back  some  fresh  meat  for  supper.  I  had  no  saddle, 
as  mine  had  been  left  at  the  camp  a  mile  distant,  so  taking  the 
harness  from  Brigham,  I  mounted  him  bareback  and  started  out 
after  the  game,  being  armed  with  my  celebrated  buffalo-killer, 
"Lucretia  Borgia," — a  newly-improved  breech-loading  needle 
gun,  wkich  I  had  obtained  from  the  government. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  495 

BRIOHAM    TO    TELE    FRONT. 

While  I  was  riding  toward  the  buffaloes  I  observed  five  horse- 
men coming  out  from  the  fort,  who  had  evidently  seen  the  buffa- 
loes from  the  post,  and  were  going  out  for  a  chase.  They  proved 
to  be  some  newly-arrived  officers  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and 
when  they  came  up  closer,  I  could  see  by  the  shoulder  straps 
that  the  senior  officer  was  a  captain,  while  the  others  were  lieu- 
tenants. 

"  Hello!  my  fnend,"  sang  out  the  Captain,  "I  see  you  are 
after  the  same  game  we  are." 

"  Yes,  sir;  I  saw  those  buffaloes  coming  over  the  hill,  and  as 
we  were  about  out  of  fresh  meat  I  thought  I  would  go  and  get 
some/'  said  I. 

They  scanned  my  cheap-looking  outfit  pretty  closely,  and  as 
my  horse  was  not  very  prepossessing  in  appearance,  having  on 
only  a  blind  bridle,  and  otherwise  looking  like  a  work-horse,  they 
evidently  considered  me  a  green  hand  at  hunting. 

"  Do  you  expect  to  catch  those  buffaloes  on  that  Gothic 
steed?"  laughingly  asked  the  captain. 

"  I  hope  so,  by  pushing  on  the  reins  hard  enough,"  was  my, 
reply. 

"  You'll  never  catch  them  in  the  world,  my  fine  fellow," 
said  the  captain.  "  It  requires  a  fast  horse  to  overtake  the  ani- 
mals on  these  prairies." 

"  Does  it?"  asked  I,  as  if  I  didn't  know  it. 

"Yes;  but  come  along  with  us  as  we  are  going  to  kill  them 
more  for  pleasure  than  anything  else.  All  we  want  are  the 
tongues  and  a  piece  of  tender-loin,  and  you  may  have  all  that  is 
left,"  said  the  generous  man, 

"  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,  Captain,  and  will  follow  you,"  I 
replied. 

There  were  eleven  buffaloes  in  the  herd  and  they  were  not 
more  than  a  mile  from  us.  The  officers  dashed  ahead  as  if  they 
had  a  sure  thing  on  killing  them  all  before  I  could  come  up  with 
them ;  but  I  had  noticed  that  the  herd  was  making  towards  the 


496  STORY   OF  THE   WILD  WEST. 

creek  for  water,  and  as  I  knew  buffalo  nature,  I  was  perfectly 
aware  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  turn  them  from  their  direct 
course.  Thereupon,  I  started  towards  the  creek  to  head  them 
off,  while  the  officers  came  up  in  the  rear  and  gave  chase. 

A  PRETTY  BUFFALO  DRIVE. 

The  buffaloes  came  rushing  past  me  not  a  hundred  yards  dis- 
tant, with  the  officers  about  three  hundred  yards  in  the  rear. 
Now,  thought  I,  is  the  time  to  "  get  my  work  in,"  as  they  say; 
and  I  pulled  the  blind-bridle  from  my  horse,  who  knew  as  well 
as  I  did  that  we  were  out  for  buffaloes  —  as  he  was  a  trained 
hunter.  The  moment  the  bridle  was  off,  he  started  at  the  top 
of  his  speed,  running  in  ahead  of  the  officers,  and  with  a  few 
jumps  he  brought  me  alongside  of  the  rear  buffalo.  Raising  old 
"  Lucretia  Borgia  "  to  my  shoulder,  I  fired,  and  killed  the  animal 
at  the  first  shot.  My  horse  then  carried  me  alongside  the  next 
one,  not  ten  feet  away,  and  I  dropped  him  at  the  next  fire. 

As  soon  as  one  buffalo  would  fall,  Brigham  would  take  me  so 
close  to  the  next  that  I  could  almost  touch  it  with  my  gun.  In 
this  manner  I  killed  the  eleven  buffaloes  with  twelve  shots;  and, 
as  the  last  animal  dropped,  my  horse  stopped.  I  jumped  to  the 
ground,  knowing  that  he  would  not  leave  me  —  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  I  had  been  riding  him  without  bridle,  reins  or  saddle  — 
and  turning  around  as  the  party  of  astonished  officers  rode  up,  I 
said  to  them :  — 

"Now,  gentlemen,  allow  me  to  present  to  you  all  the  tongues 
and  tender-loins  you  wish  from  these  buffaloes." 

Captain  Graham,  for  such  I  soon  learned  was  his  name,  re- 
plied :  "  Well,  I  never  saw  the  like  before.  Who  under  the  sun 
are  you,  anyhow?" 

"  My  name  is  Cody,"  said  T. 

One  of  the  lieutenants,  Thompson  by  name,  who  had  met  me 
at  Fort  Harker,  then  recognized  me,  and  said:  "Why,  that  is 
Bill  Cody,  our  old  scout."  He  then  introduced  me  to  the  other 
officers,  who  were  Captain  Graham  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry,  and 
Lieutenants  Reed,  Einmick  and  Ezekiel. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


497 


Captain  Graham,  who  was  considerable  of  a  horseman,  greatly 
admired  Brigham,  and  said:  "  That  horse  of  yours  has  running 
points." 

"  Yes,  sir ;  he  has  not  only  got  the  points,  he  is  a  runner  and 
knows  how  to  use  the  points,"  said  I. 

'«  So  I  noticed,"  said  the  captain. 

They  all  finally  dismounted,  and  we  countinued  chatting  for 
some  little  time  upon  the  different  subjects  of  horses,  buffaloes, 


ACCEPT   THE   TONflUES    AND   TENDER-LOINS. 

Indians  and  hunting.  They  felt  a  little  sore  at  not  getting  a  single 
•hot  at  the  buffaloes,  but  the  way  I  had  killed  them  had,  they 
said,  amply  repaid  them  for  their  disappointment.  They  uid 
read  of  such  feats  in  books,  but  this  was  the  first  time  they  had 
ever  seen  anything  of  the  kind  with  their  own  eyes.  It  was  the 
first  time,  also,  that  they  had  ever  witnessed  or  heard  of  a  white 
man  running  buffaloes  on  horseback  without  a  saddle  or  a  bridle. 
I  told  them  that  Brigham  knew  nearly  as  much  about  the  busi- 
ness as  I  did,  and  if  I  had  twenty  bridles  they  would  have  been  of 

32 


498  STORY  OP  THE   WILD   WEST 

no  use  to  me,  as  he  understood  everything,  and  all  that  he  expected 
of  me  was  to  do  the  shooting.  It  is  a  fact,  that  Brigham  would 
stop  if  a  buffalo  did  not  fall  at  the  first  fire,  so  as  to  give  me  a 
second  chance,  but  if  I  did  not  kill  the  buffalo  then,  he  would  go 
on,  as  if  to  say,  "  You  are  no  good,  and  I  will  not  fool  away  my 
time  by  giving  you  more  than  two  shots.' '  Brigham  was  the  best 
horse  I  ever  owned  or  saw  for  buffalo  chasing. 

Our  conversation  was  interrupted  in  a  little  while  by  the  arri- 
val of  the  wagon  which  1  had  ordered  out ;  I  loaded  the  hind- 
quarters of  the  youngest  buffaloes  on  it,  and  then  cut  out  the 
tongues  and  tender-loins,  and  presented  them  to  the  officers,  after 
which  I  rode  towards  the  fort  with  them,  while  the  wagon  re- 
turned to  camp. 

Captain  Graham  told  me  that  he  expected  to  be  statioued  at 
Fort  Hays  during  the  summer,  and  would  probably  be  sent  out 
on  a  scouting  expedition,  and  in  case  he  was  he  would  like  to  have 
me  accompany  him  as  scout  and  guide..  I  replied  that  notwith- 
standing I  was  very  busy  with  my  railroad  contract  I  would  go 
with  him  if  he  was  ordered  out.  I  then  left  the  officers  and  re- 
turned to  our  camp. 

IN  PURSUIT  OF  INDIANS. 

That  very  night  the  Indians  unexpectedly  made  a  raid  on  tike 
horses,  and  ran  off  five  or  six  of  our  very  best  work-teams,  leav- 
ing us  in  a  very  crippled  condition.  At  daylight  I  jumped  on  old 
Brigham  and  rode  to  Fort  Hays,  where  I  reported  the  affair  to  the 
commanding  officer;  Captain  Graham  and  Lieutenant  Emmick 
were  at  once  ordered  out  with  their  company  of  one  hundred  col- 
ored troops,  to  pursue  the  Indians  and  recover  our  stock  if  possi- 
bi?.  In  an  hour  we  were  under  way.  The  darkies  had  never 
been  in  an  Indian  fight  and  were  anxious  to  catch  the  band  w« 
were  after  and  "  Sweep  de  red  debels  from  off  de  face  of  d« 
yearth."  Captain  Graham  was  a  brave,  dashing  officer,  eager  to 
make  a  record  for  himself,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  I  could 
trail  fast  enough  to  keep  out  of  the  way  of  the  impatient  soldiers. 
Every  few  moments  Captain  Graham  would  ride  up  to  »ee  if  the 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  499 

trail  was  freshening  and  how  soon  .we  should  be  likely  to  over- 
take the  thieves. 

At  last  we  reached  the  Saline  river,  where  we  found  the  In- 
dians had  only  stopped  to  feed  and  water  the  animals,  and  had 
then  pushed  on  towards  the  Solomon.  After  crossing  the  Saline 
they  made  no  effort  to  conceal  their  trail,  thinking  they  would 
not  be  pursued  beyond  that  point  —  consequenntly  we  were  able  to 
make  excellent  time.  We  reached  the  Solomon  before  sunset,  and 
came  to  a  halt ;  we  surmised  that  if  the  Indians  were  camped  on 
this  river,  that  they  had  no  suspicion  of  our  being  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. I  advised  Captain  Graham  to  remain  with  the  company 
where  it  was,  while  I  went  ahead  on  a  scout  to  find  the  Indians, 
if  they  were  in  the  vicinity. 

After  riding  some  distance  down  the  ravine  that  led  to  the 
river,  I  left  my  horse  at  the  foot  of  a  hill;  then,  creeping  to  the 
top,  I  looked  cautiously  over  the  summit  upon  the  Solomon  be- 
low. I  at  once  discovered  in  plain  view,  not  a  mile  away,  a  herd 
of  horses  grazing,  our  lost  ones  among  them;  very  shortly  I 
made  out  the  Indian  camp,  noted  its  lay,  and  how  we  could  best 
approach  it.  Reporting  to  Captain  Graham,  whose  eyes  fairly 
danced  with  delight  at  the  prospect  of  surprising  and  whipping 
the  red-skins,  we  concluded  to  wait  until  the  moon  rose,  then  get 
into  the  timber  so  as  to  approach  the  Indians  as  closely  as  possi- 
ble without  being  discovered,  and  finally  to  make  a  sudden  dash 
into  their  camp  and  clean  them  out.  We  had  everything  ««  cut 
and  dried,"  as  we  thought,  but  alas!  just  as  we  were  nearingthe 
point  where  we  were  to  take  the  open  ground  and  make  our 
charge,  one  of  the  colored  gentlemen  became  so  excited  that 
he  fired  off  his  gun.  We  immediately  commenced  the  charge, 
but  the  firing  of  the  gun  and  the  noise  of  our  rush  through  the 
crackling  timber  alarmed  the  Indians,  who  at  once  sprang  to  their 
horses  and  were  away  from  us  before  we  reached  their  late  camp. 
Captain  Graham  called  out  "  Follow  me,  boys!  "  which  we  did 
for  a  while,  but  in  the  darkness  the  Indians  made  good  their  es- 
cape. The  bugle  then  gave  the  recall,  but  some  of  the  darkies 
did  not  get  back  until  morning,  having,  in  their  fright,  allowed 


500  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

their  horses  to  run  away  with  them  withersoever  it  suited  the  ani- 
mals' pleasure  to  go. 

We  followed  the  trail  the  next  day  for  awhile,  but  as  it  became 
evident  that  it  would  be  a  long  chase  to  overtake  the  enemy,  and 
as  we  had  rations  only  for  the  day,  we  commenced  the  return. 
Captain  Graham  was  bitterly  disappointed  in  not  being  able  to 
get  the  fight  when  it  seemed  so  near  at  one  time.  He  roundly 
cursed  the  "  nigger  "  who  fired  the  gun,  and  as  a  punishment  for 
his  carelessness,  he  was  compelled  to  walk  all  the  way  back  to 
Fort  Hays. 

HOW   I   RECEIVED   THE   TITLE   OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 

The  construction  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  railroad  was  pushed 
forward  with  great  rapidity,  and  when  track-iaying  began  it  was 
only  a  very  short  time  before  the  road  was  ready  for  construction 
trains  as  far  west  as  the  heart  of  the  buffalo  country.  Twelve 
hundred  men  were  employed  in  the  work,  ana  as  the  Indians 
were  very  troublesome  it  became  difficult  to  obtain  sufficient  fresh 
meat  to  feed  such  an  army  of  workmen.  This  embarrassment 
was  at  length  overcome  by  the  construction  company  engaging 
hunters  to  kill  buffaloes,  the  flesh  of  which  is  equal  to  the  best 
corn -fed  beef. 

Having  heard  of  my  experience  and  success  as  a  buffalo  hunter, 
Messrs.  Goddard  Brothers,  who  had  the  contract  for  boarding 
the  employees  of  the  road,  met  me  in  Hays  City  one  day  and 
made  me  a  good  offer  to  become  their  hunter,  and  I  at  once  en- 
tered into  a  contract  with  theme  They  said  that  they  would  re- 
quire about  twelve  buffaloes  per  day ;  that  would  be  twenty-four 
hams,  as  we  took  only  the  hind-quarters  and  hump  of  each  buf- 
falo. As  this  was  to  be  dangerous  work,  on  account  of  the 
Indians,  who  were  riding  all  over  that  section  of  the  country, 
and  as  I  would  be  obliged  to  go  from  five  to  ten  miles  from  the 
road  each  day  to  hunt  the  buffaloes,  accompanied  by  only  one 
man  with  a  light  wagon  for  the  transportation  of  the  meat,  I  of 
course  demanded  a  large  salary.  They  could  afford  to  remuner- 
ate me  well,  because  the  meat  would  not  cost  them  anything. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  501 

They  agreed  to  give  me  five  hundred  dollars  per  month,  provided 
I  furnished  them  all  the  fresh  meat  required. 

Leaving  my  partner,  Rose,  to  complete  our  grading  contract, 
I  immediately  began  my  career  as  a  buffalo  hunter  for  the  Kan- 
sas Pacific  railroad,  and  it  was  not  long  before  I  acquired  con- 
siderable notoriety.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  very  appropriate 
name  of  "  Buffalo  Bill"  was  conferred  upon  me  by  the  road- 
hands.  It  has  stuck  to  me  ever  since,  and  I  have  never  been 
Ashamed  of  it. 

During  my  engagement  as  hunter  for  the  company  —  a  period 
of  less  than  eighteen  months  —  I  killed  4,280  buffaloes;  and  I 
had  many  exciting  adventures  with  the  Indians,  as  well  as  hair 
breadth  escapes,  some  of  which  are  well  worth  relating. 

A    RACE    FOR   MY   SCALP. 

One  day  in  the  spring  of  1868  I  mounted  Brigham  and  started 
for  Smoky  Hill  river.  After  galloping  about  twenty  miles  I 
reached  the  top  of  a  small  hill  overlooking  the  valley  of  that 
beautiful  stream.  As  I  was  gazing  on  the  landscape,  I  suddenly 
saw  a  band  of  about  thirty  Indians  nearly  half  a  mile  distant; 
I  knew  by  the  way  they  jumped  on  their  horses  that  they  had  seen 
me  as  soon  as  I  came  into  sight. 

The  only  chance  I  had  for  my  life  was  to  make  a  run  for  it, 
and  I  immediately  wheeled  and  started  back  towards  the  railroad. 
Brigham  seemed  to  understand  what  was  up,  and  he  struck  out 
as  if  he  comprehended  that  it  was  to  be  a  run  for  life.  H« 
crossed  a  ravine  in  a  few  jumps,  and  on  reaching  a  ridge  beyond 
I  drew  rein,  looked  back  and  saw  the  Indians  coming  for  me  at 
full  speed  and  evidently  well  mounted.  I  would  have  had  little 
or  no  fear  of  being  overtaken  if  Brigham  had  been  fresh  ;  but  as 
he  was  not,  I  felt  uncertain  as  to  how  he  would  stand  a  long 
chase. 

My  pursuers  seemed  to  be  gaining  on  me  a  little,  and  I  let 
Brigham  shoot  ahead  again ;  when  we  had  run  about  three  miles 
further,  some  eight  or  nine  of  the  Indians  were  not  over  two 
hundred  yards  behind,  and  five  or  six  of  these  seemed  to  be 


502 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 


shortening  the  gap  at  every  jump.  Brigham  now  exerted  him- 
self more  than  ever,  and  for  the  next  three  or  four  miles  he  got 
"  right  down  to  business,"  and  did  some  of  the  prettiest  running 
I  ever  saw.  But  the  Indians  were  about  as  well  mounted  as  I  was, 
and  one  of  their  horses  in  particular  —  a  spotted  animal  —  was 
gaining  on  me  all  the  time.  Nearly  all  the  other  horses  were  strung 
out  behind  for  a  distance  of  two  miles,  but  still  chasing  after  me. 

A  GREAT  SHOT. 

The  Indian  who  was  riding  the  spotted  horse  was  armed  with 
a  rifle,   and  would  occasionally  send  a  bullet  whistling  along, 


CHECKING   A    HOT   PURSUIT. 


sometimes  striking  the  ground  ahead  of  me.  I  saw  that  this  fel- 
low must  be  checked,  or  a  stray  bullet  from  his  gun  might  hit  me 
or  my  horse;  so,  suddenly  stopping  Brigham  and  quickly  wheel- 
ing him  around,  I  raised  old  "  Lucretia  "  to  my  shoulder,  took 
deliberate  aim  at  the  Indian  and  his  horse,  hoping  to  hit  one  or 
the  other,  and  fired.  He  was  not  over  eighty  yards  away  from 
me  at  this  time,  and  at  the  crack  of  my  rifle  down  went  his 
horse.  Not  waiting  to  see  if  he  recovered,  I  turned  Brigbim. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL,.  503 

and  in  a  moment  we  were  again  fairly  flying  towards  our  desti- 
nation; we  had  urgent  business  about  that  time,  and  were  in  a 
hurry  to  get  there. 

The  other  Indians  had  gained  on  us  while  I  was  engaged  shoot- 
ing at  their  leader,  and  they  sent  several  shots  whizzing  past  me, 
but  fortunately  none  of  them  hit  the  intended  mark.  To  re- 
turn their  compliment  I  occasionally  wheeled  myself  in  the  sad- 
dle and  fired  back  at  them,  and  one  of  my  shots  broke  the  leg 
of  one  of  their  horses,  which  left  its  rider  hors  (e)  de  combat, 
as  the  French  would  say. 

Only  seven  or  eight  Indians  now  remained  in  dangerous  prox- 
imity to  me,  and  as  their  horses  were  beginning  to  lag  somewhat, 
I  checked  my  faithful  old  steed  a  little,  to  allow  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  draw  an  extra  breath  or  two.  I  had  determined,  if  it 
should  come  to  the  worst,  to  drop  into  a  buffalo  wallow,  where  I 
could  stand  the  Indians  off  for  a  while ;  but  I  was  not  compelled 
to  do  this,  as  Brigham  carried  me  through  most  nobly. 

SAUCE    FOR   THE    GANDER. 

The  chase  was  kept  up  until  we  came  within  three  miles  of  the 
end  of  the  railroad  track,  where  two  companies  of  soldiers  were 
stationed  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  workmen  from  tke 
Indians.  One  of  the  outposts  saw  the  Indians  chasing  me  across 
the  prairie  and  gave  the  alarm.  In  a  few  minutes  I  saw,  greatly 
to  my  delight,  men  coming  on  foot,  and  cavalrymen  too  came 
galloping  to  my  rescue  as  soon  as  they  could  mount  their  horses. 
When  the  Indians  observed  this,  they  turned  and  ran  in  the  di- 
rection from  which  they  had  come.  In  a  very  few  minutes  I  was 
met  by  some  of  the  infantrymen  and  trackmen,  and  jumping  to 
the  ground  and  pulling  the  blanket  and  saddle  off  of  Brigham,  I 
told  them  what  he  had  done  for  me ;  they  at  once  took  him  in 
charge,  led  him  around,  and  rubbed  him  down  so  vigorously  that 
I  thought  they  would  rub  him  to  death. 

Captain  Nolan,  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry,  now  came  up  with  for- 
ty of  his  men,  and  upon  learning  what  had  happened  he  de- 
termined to  pursue  the  Indians.  He  kindly  offered  me  one  of 


504  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

the  cavalry  horses,  and  after  putting  my  own  saddle  and  bridle 
on  the  animal,  we  started  out  after  the  flying  Indians,  who  only 
a  few  minutes  before  had  been  making  it  so  uncomfortably  live- 
ly for  me.  Our  horses  were  all  fresh  and  of  excellent  stock,  and 
we  soon  began  shortening  the  distance  between  ourselves  and  the 
redskins.  Before  they  had  gone  five  miles  we  overtook  and  killed 
eight  of  their  number.  The  others  succeeded  in  making  their  es- 
cape. On  coming  up  to  the  place  where  I  had  killed  the  first 
horse — the  spotted  one  —  on  my  "home  run,"  I  found  that  my 
bullet  had  struck  him  in  the  forehead  and  killed  him  instantly. 
He  was  a  noble  animal,  and  ought  to  have  been  engaged  in  bet- 
ter business. 

When  we  got  back  to  camp  I  found  old  Brigham  grazing 
quietly  and  contentedly  on  the  grass.  He  looked  up  at  me  as  if 
to  ask  if  we  had  got  away  with  any  of  those  fellows  who  had 
chased  us.  I  believe  he  read  the  answer  in  my  eyes, 

RUN   TO    COVER    BY   INDIANS. 

Another  very  exciting  hunting  adventure  of  mine  which  de- 
serves a  place  in  these  reminiscences  occurred  near  Saline  river. 
My  companion  at  the  time  was  a  man  called  Scotty,  a  butcher, 
who  generally  accompanied  me  on  these  hunting  expeditions  to 
cut  up  the  buffaloes  and  load  the  meat  into  a  light  wagon  which 
he  brought  to  carry  it  in.  He  was  a  brave  little  fellow  and  a  most 
excellent  shot.  I  had  killed  some  fifteen  buffaloes  and  we  had 
started  for  home  with  a  wagon-load  of  meat.  When  within  about 
eight  miles  of  our  destination  we  suddenly  ran  on  to  a  party  of 
at  least  thirty  Indians  who  came  riding  out  of  the  head  of  a 
ravine. 

On  this  occasion  I  was  mounted  on  a  most  excellent  horse  be- 
longing to  the  railroad  company  and  could  easily  have  made  my 
escape ;  but  of  course  I  could  not  leave  Scotty,  who  was  driving 
a  pair  of  mules  hitched  to  the  wagon.  To  think  was  to  act  in 
those  days ;  and  as  Scott j  and  I  had  often  talked  over  a  plan  of 
defense  in  case  we  were  ever  surprised  by  Indians,  we  instantly 
proceeded  to  carry  it  out.  We  jumped  to  the  ground,  unhitched 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  50$ 

the  mules  quicker  than  it  had  ever  been  done  before,  and  tied 
them  and  my  horse  to  the  wagon.  We  threw  the  buffalo  hama 
upon  the  ground  and  piled  them  around  the  wheels  in  such  a 
shape  as  to  form  a  breast-work.  All  this  was  done  in  a  shorter 
time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it;  and  then,  with  our  extra  box  of  am- 
munition and  three  or  four  extra  revolvers,  which  we  always 
carried  along  with  us,  we  crept  under  the  wagon  and  were  fully 
prepared  to  give  our  visitors  the  warmest  kind  of  a  reception. 

The  Indians  came  on  pell-mell,  but  when  they  were  within  one 
hundred  yards  of  us  we  opened  such  a  sudden  and  galling  fire 
upon  them  that  they  held  up  and  began  to  circle  around  the  wagon 
instead  of  riding  up  to  take  tea  with  us.  They  however  charged 
back  and  forth  upon  us  several  times  and  their  shots  killed  the 
two  mules  and  my  horse ;  but  we  gave  it  to  them  right  and  left 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  three  of  them  fall  to  the  ground 
not  more  than  fifty  yards  away.  On  perceiving  how  well  we  were 
fortified  and  protected  by  our  breast- work  of  hams,  they  probably 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be  a  difficult  undertaking  to 
dislodge  us,  for  they  drew  off  and  gave  us  a  rest,  but  only  a 
short  one. 

SENDING    UP   A    SIGNAL   FOR   HELP. 

This  was  the  kind  of  fighting  we  had  been  expecting  for  a  long 
time,  as  we  knew  that  sooner  or  later  we  would  be  "  jumped  " 
by  Indians  while  we  were  out  buffalo  hunting.  I  had  an  under- 
standing with  the  officers  who  commanded  the  troops  at  the  end 
of  the  track,  that  in  case  their  pickets  should  at  any  time  notice 
a  smoke  in  the  direction  of  our  hunting  ground  they  were  to  give 
the  alarm,  so  that  assistance  might  be  sent  to  us,  for  the  smoke 
was  to  indicate  that  we  were  in  danger. 

I  now  resolved  to  signal  to  the  troops  in  the  manner  agreed 
on  and  at  the  first  opportunity  set  fire  to  the  grass  on  the  wind- 
ward side  of  the  wagon.  The  fire  spread  over  the  prairie  at  a 
rapid  rate,  causing  a  dense  smoke  which  I  knew  would  be  seen 
at  the  camp.  The  Indians  did  not  seem  to  understand  this  strate- 
gic movement.  They  got  off  from  their  horses  and  from  behind 
<*  bank  or  knoll  again  peppered  away  at  us ;  but  we  were  well 


506 


STOKY   OF  THE   WILD  WEST. 


fortified,  and  whenever   they  showed  their  heads  we  let  them 
know  that  we  could  shoot  as  well  as  they. 

After  we  had  been  cooped  up  in  our  little  fort  for  about  an 
hour,  we  discovered  cavalry  coming  toward  us  at  full  gallop  over 
the  prairie.  Our  signal  of  distress  had  proved  a  success.  The 
Indians  saw  the  soldiers  at  about  the  same  tune  that  we  did,  and 


A   SIGNAL  Or   DISTRESS. 

thinking  that  it  would  not  be  healthy  for  them  to  remain  much 
longer  in  that  vicinity,  they  mounted  their  horses  and  disappeared 
down  the  canons  of  the  creek.  When  the  soldiers  came  up  we  had 
the  satisfaction  of  showing  them  five  "good"  Indians  —  that  is 
dead  ones.  Two  hours  later  we  pulled  into  camp  with  our  load 
of  meat,  which  was  found  to  be  all  right,  except  that  it  had  a 
few  bullets  and  arrows  sticking  in  it. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OP   BUFFALO    BILL. 


507 


CHAPTER    IX. 


CHAMPION    BUFFALO    KILLER. 

RETTY  soon  after  the  adventures  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  chapter,  I 
had  my  celebrated  buffalo  hunt  with 
Billy  Comstock,  a  noted  scout,  guide 
and  interpreter,  who  was  then  chief  of 
scouts  at  Fort  Wallace,  Kansas. 
Comstock  had  the  reputation,  for  a  long 
time,  of  being  a  most  successful  buffalo 
hunter,  and  the  officers  in  particular, 
who  had  seen  him  kill  buffaloes,  were 
ve\y  desirous  of  backing  him  in  a 
match  against  me.  It  was  accordingly 
arranged  that  I  should  shoot  him  a 
buffalo -killing  match,  and  the  prelim- 
inaries were  easily  and  satisfactorily 
agreed  upon.  We  were  to  hunt  one 
day  of  eight  hours,  beginning  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  closing  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The 
wager  was  five  hundred  dollars  a  side,  and  the  man  who  should 
kill  the  greater  number  of  buffaloes  from  on  horseback  was  to  be 
declared  the  winner. 

The  hunt  took  place  about  twenty  miles  .east  of  Sheridan,  and 
as  it  had  been  pretty  well  advertised  and  noised  abroad,  a  large 
crowd  witnessed  the  interesting  and  exciting  scene.  An  excur- 
sion party,  mostly  from  St.  Louis,  consisting  of  about  a  hundred 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  came  out  on  a  special  train  to  view  the 
sport,  and  among  the  number  was  my  wife,  with  little  baby 
Arta,  who  had  come  to  remain  with  me  for  a  while. 

The  buffaloes  were  quite  plenty,  and  it  was  agreed  that  we 
should  go  into  the  same  herd  at  the  same  time  and  "  make  a 


508  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

run,"  as  we  called  it,  each  one  killing  as  many  z*  poesibK  A 
referee  was  to  follow  each  of  us  on  horseback  when  we  entered 
the  herd,  and  count  the  buffaloes  killed  by  each  man.  The  St. 
Louis  excursionists,  as  well  as  the  other  spectators,  rode  out  to 
the  vicinity  of  the  hunting  grounc.s  in  wagons  and  on  horseback, 
keeping  well  out  of  sight  of  the  buffaloes,  so  as  not  to  frighten 
them,  until  the  time  came  for  us  to  dash  into  the  herd  —  when 
they  were  to  come  up  as  near  as  they  pleased  and  witness  the 
chase. 

We  were  fortunate  in  the  first  run  in  getting  good  ground. 
Comstock  was  mounted  on  one  of  his  favorite  horses,  while  I 
rode  old  Brigham.  I  felt  confident  that  I  had  the  advantage  of 
Comstock  in  two  things:  first,  I  had  the  best  buffalo  horse  that 
ever  made  a  track;  and  second,  I  was  using  what  was  known  at 
that  time  as  the  needle-gun,  a  breech-loading  Springfield  rifle  — 
calibre  50,  — it  was  my  favorite  old  "  Lucretia,"  which  hms  al- 
ready been  introduced  to  the  notice  of  the  reader ;  while  Comstock 
was  armed  with  a  Henry  rifle,  and  although  he  could  fire  a  few 
shots  quicker  than  I  could,  yet  I  was  pretty  certain  that  it  did 
not  carry  powder  and  lead  enough  to  do  execution  equal  to  my 
calibre  50. 

A  DASH   INTO   THE   HERD. 

At  last  the  time  came  to  begin  the  match.  Comstock  and  I 
dashed  into  a  herd,  followed  by  the  referees.  The  buffaloes 
separated;  Comstock  took  the  left  bunch  and  I  the  right.  My 
great  forte  in  killing  buffaloes  from  horseback  was  to  get  them 
circling  by  riding  my  horse  at  the  head  of  the  herd,  shooting 
the  leaders,  thus  crowding  their  followers  to  the  left,  till  they 
would  finally  circle  round  and  round. 

On  this  morning  the  buffaloes  were  very  accommodating,  and 
I  soon  had  them  running  in  a  beautiful  circle,  when  I  dropped 
them  thick  and  fast,  until  I  had  killed  thirty-eight ;  which  fin- 
ished my  run.  Comstock  began  shooting  at  the  rear  of  the  herd 
which  he  was  chasing,  and  they  kept  straight  on.  He  succeeded, 
however,  in  killing  twenty-three,  but  they  were  scattered  ever 
a  distance  of  three  miles,  while  mine  lay  close  together.  I  had 


609 


510  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

"  nursed"  my  buffaloes,  as  a  billiard-player  does  the  balls  when 
he  makes  a  big  run. 

After  the  result  of  the  first  run  had  been  duly  announced,  our 
St.  Louis  excursion  friends  —  who  had  approached  to  the  place 
where  we  had  stopped  —  set  out  a  lot  of  champagne,  which  they 
had  brought  with  them,  and  which  proved  a  good  drink  on  a 
Kansas  prairie,  and  a  buffalo  hunter  was  a  good  man  to  get  away 
with  it. 

While  taking  a  short  rest,  we  suddenly  spied  another  herd  of 
buffaloes  coming  toward  us.  It  was  only  a  small  drove,  and  we 
at  once  prepared  to  give  the  animals  a  lively  reception.  They 
proved  to  be  a  herd  of  cows  and  calves  —  which,  by  the  way,  are 
quicker  in  their  movements  than  the  bulls.  We  charged  in 
among  them,  and  I  concluded  my  run  with  a  score  of  eighteen, 
while  Comstock  killed  fourteen.  The  score  now  stood  fifty-six 
to  thirty-seven,  in  my  favor. 

AN   EXHIBITION   FOR   THE    LADIES. 

Again  the  excursion  party  approached,  and  once  more  the 
champagne  was  tapped.  After  we  had  eaten  a  lunch  which  was 
spread  for  us,  we  resumed  the  hunt.  Striking  out  for  a  distance 
of  three  miles,  we  came  up  close  to  another  herd.  As  I  was  so 
far  ahead  of  my  competitor  in  the  number  killed,  I  thought  I 
could  afford  to  give  an  extra  exhibition  of  my  skill.  I  had  told 
the  ladies  that  I  would,  on  the  next  run,  ride  my  horse  without 
saddle  or  bridle.  This  had  raised  the  excitement  to  fever  heat 
among  the  excursionists,  and  I  remember  one  fair  lady  who  en- 
deavored to  prevail  upon  me  not  to  attempt  it. 

"  That's  nothing  at  all,"  said  I;  "  I  have  done  it  many  a  time, 
and  old  Brigham  knows  as  well  as  I  what  I  am  doing,  and  some- 
times a  great  deal  better." 

So,  leaving  my  saddle  and  bridle  with  the  wagons,  we  rode  to 
the  windward  of  the  buffaloes,  as  usual,  and  when  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  them  we  dashed  into  the  herd.  I  soon  had 
thirteen  laid  out  on  the  ground,  the  last  one  of  which  I  had 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  511 

driven  down  close  to  the  wagons,  where  the  ladies  were.  It 
frightened  some  of  the  tender  creatures  to  see  the  buffalo  coming  at 
full  speed  directly  toward  them ;  but  when  he  had  got  within  fifty 
yards  of  one  of  the  wagons,  I  shot  him  dead  in  his  tracks.  This 
made  my  sixty-ninth  buffalo,  and  finished  my  third  and  last  run, 
Comstock  having  killed  forty-six. 

As  it  was  now  late  in  the  afternoon,  Comstock  and  his  backers 
gave  up  the  idea  that  he  could  beat  me,  and  thereupon  the  ref- 
erees declared  me  the  winner  of  the  match,  as  well  as  the  cham- 
pion buffalo-hunter  of  the  plains.* 

On  our  way  back  to  camp,  we  took  with  us  some  of  the  choice 
meat  and  finest  heads.  In  this  connection  it  will  not  be  out  of 
place  to  state  that  during  the  time  I  was  hunting  for  the  Kansas 
Pacific,  I  always  brought  into  camp  the  best  buffalo  heads,  and 
turned  them  over  to  the  company,  who  found  a  very  good  use 
for  them.  They  had  them  mounted  in  the  best  possible  manner, 
and  sent  them  to  all  the  principal  cities  and  railroad  centers  in 
the  country,  having  them  placed  in  prominent  positions  at  the 
leading  hotels,  depots,  and  other  public  buildings,  as  i,  sort  of 
trade-mark,  or  advertisement,  of  the  Kansas  Pacific  railroad; 
and  to-day  they  attract  the  attention  of  the  traveler  almost  every- 
where. Whenever  I  am  traveling  over  the  country  and  see  one 
of  these  trade-marks,  I  feel  pretty  certain  that  I  was  the  cause 
of  the  death  of  the  old  fellow  whose  body  it  once  ornamented, 
and  many  a  wild  and  exciting  hunt  is  thus  called  to  mind. 

The  end  of  the  track  finally  reached  Sheridan,  in  the  month  of 
May,  1868,  and  as  the  road  was  not  to  be  built  any  farther  just 

*  Poor  Billy  Comstock  was  afterwards  treacherously  murdered  by  the  In- 
dians. He  and  Sharpe  Grover  visited  a  village  of  Indians,  supposed  to  be 
peaceably  inclined,  near  Big  Spring  station,  in  Western  Kansas;  and  after 
spending  several  honrs  with  the  red-skins  in  friendly  conversation,  they  prepared 
to  depart,  having  declined  an  invitation  to  pass  the  night  there.  It  appears  that 
Comstock1  s  beautiful  white-handled  revolver  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
Indians,  who  overtook  him  and  his  companion  when  they  had  gone  about  half  a 
mile.  After  surrounding  the  two  men  they  suddenly  attacked  them.  They 
killed,  scalped  and  robbed  Comstock;  but  Grover,  although  severely  wounded, 
made  his  escape,  owing  to  the  fleetness  of  the  excellent  horse  which  he 
riding.  This  sad  event  occurred  August  27. 


512 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  513 

then,  my  services  as  a  hunter  were  not  any  longer  required.  At 
this  time  there  was  a  general  Indian  war  raging  all  along  the 
Western  borders.  General  Sheridan  had  taken  up  his  headquar- 
ters at  Fort  Hays,  in  order  to  be  in  the  field  to  superintend  the 
campaign  in  person.  As  scouts  and  guides  were  in  great  demand, 
I  concluded  once  more  to  take  up  my  old  avocation  of  scouting 
and  guiding  for  the  army. 

BRIGHAM  AND  I  PART  COMPANY. 

Having  no  suitable  place  in  which  to  leave  my  old  and  faithful 
buffalo-hunter  Brigham,  and  not  wishing  to  kill  him  by  scouting, 
I  determined  to  dispose  of  him.  I  was  very  reluctant  to  part  with 
him,  but  I  consoled  myself  with  the  thought  that  he  would  not 
be  likely  to  receive  harder  usage  in  other  hands  than  he  had  in 
mine.  I  had  several  good  offers  to  sell  him ;  but  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  some  gentlemen  in  Sheridan,  all  of  whom  were  anxious  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  horse,  I  put  him  up  at  a  raffle,  in  order 
to  give  them  all  an  equal  chance  of  becoming  the  owner  of  the 
famous  steed.  There  were  ten  chances  at  thirty  dollars  each,  and 
they  were  all  quickly  taken. 

Old  Brigham  was  won  by  a  gentleman  —  Mr.  Ike  Bonham  — 
who  took  him  to  Wyandotte,  Kansas,  where  he  soon  added  new 
laurels  to  his  already  brilliant  record.  Although  I  am  getting 
ahead  of  my  story,  I  must  now  follow  Brigham  for  a  while.  A 
grand  tournament  came  off  four  miles  from  Wyandotte,  and 
Brigham  took  part  in  it.  As  has  already  been  stated,  his  ap- 
pearance was  not  very  prepossessing,  and  nobody  suspected  him 
of  being  anything  but  the  most  ordinary  kind  of  a  plug.  The 
friends  of  the  rider  laughed  at  him  for  being  mounted  on  such  a 
dizzy-looking  steed.  When  the  exercises  —  which  were  of  a  very 
tame  character,  being  more  for  style  than  speed  —  were  over,  and 
just  as  the  crowd  was  about  to  return  to  the  city,  a  purse  of 
$250  was  made  up,  to  be  given  to  the  horse  that  could  first  reach 
Wyandotte,  four  miles  distant.  The  arrangement  was  carried 
out,  and  Brigham  was  entered  as  one  of  the  contestants  for  the 
purse.  Everybody  laughed  at  Mr.  Bonham  when  it  became 

38 


514  STOKT   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

known  that  he  was  to  ride  that  poky-looking  plug  against  the  five 
thoroughbreds  which  were  to  take  part  in  the  race. 

When  all  the  preliminaries  had  been  arranged,  the  signal  was 
given,  and  off  went  the  horses  for  Wyandotte.  For  the  first  half- 
mile  several  of  the  horses  led  Brigham,  but  on  the  second  mile 
he  began  passing  them  one  after  another,  and  on  the  third  mile 
he  was  in  advance  of  them  all,  and  was  showing  them  the  road 
at  a  lively  rate.  On  the  fourth  mile  his  rider  let  him  out,  and 
arrived  at  the  hotel  —  the  home-station  —  in  Wyandotte  a  long 
way  ahead  of  his  fastest  competitor. 

Everybody  was  surprised  as  well  as  disgusted,  that  such  a 
homely  "  critter  "  should  be  the  winner.  Brigham,  of  course, 
had  already  acquired  a  wide  reputation,  and  his  name  and  exploits 
had  often  appeared  in  the  newspapers,  and  when  it  was  learned 
that  this  "  critter"  was  none  other  than  the  identical  buffalo- 
hunting  Brigham,  nearly  the  whole  crowd  admitted  that  they  had 
heard  of  him  before,  and  had  they  known  him  in  the  first  place 
they  certainly  would  have  ruled  him  out. 

But  to  return  to  the  thread  of  my  narrative,  from  which  I  have 
wandered.  Having  received  the  appointment  of  guide  and  scout, 
and  having  been  ordered  to  report  at  Fort  Larned,  then  com- 
manded by  Captain  Dangerfield  Parker,  I  saw  it  was  necessary 
to  take  my  family  —  who  had  remained  with  me  at  Sheridan 
after  the  buffalo-hunting  match  —  to  Leavenworth  and  there 
leave  them.  This  I  did  at  once,  and  after  providing  them  with 
a  comfortable  little  home  I  returned  and  reported  for  duty  at 
Fort  Larned 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO   BILL. 


515 


CHAPTER    X. 


ACTING   AS    SPECIAL   SCOUT, 


EARLY  all  the  scouts  operating  in 
Western  Kansas,  at  the  time  of 
which  I  write,  made  their  princi- 
pal headquarters  at  Fcrt  Larned, 
and  were  commanded  by  Dick 
Curtis,  an  old  guide,  frontiersman 
and  Indian  interpreter.  When  I 
first  visited  the  place  in  the  line 
of  duty  there  were  seme  three 
hundred  lodges  of  Kicwas  and  Comanche  Indians 
camped  near  the  fort.  These  Indians  had  not  as  yet 
gone  upon  the  war-path,  but  were  restless  and  dis- 
contented, and  their  leading  chiefs,  Satanta,  Lone 
Wolf,  Kicking  Bird,  Satank,  Sittamore,  and  other  noted  war- 
riors, were  rather  saucy.  The  post  at  the  time  was  garrisoned 
by  only  two  companies  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry. 

General  Hazen,  who  was  at  the  post,  was  endeavoring  to  pacify 
the  Indians  and  keep  them  from  going  on  the  war-path.  I  was 
appointed  as  his  special  scout,  and  one  morning  he  notified  me 
that  he  was  going  tc  Fcrt  Harker  and  wished  me  to  accompany 
him  as  far  Fort  Zarah,  thirty  miles  distant.  The  General  usu- 
ally traveled  in  an  ambulance,  but  this  trip  he  was  to  make 
in  a  six-mule  wagon,  under  the  escort  of  a  squad  of  twenty 
Infantry-men. 

So,  early  one  morning  in  August,  we  started,  arriving  safely 
at  Fort  Zarah  at  twelve  o'clock.  General  Hazen  thought  it 

O 

unnecessary  that  we  should  go  father,  and  he  proceeded  on 
his  way  to  Fort  Harker  without  an  escort,  leaving  instructions 
that  we  should  return  to  Fort  Larned  the  next  day. 


516  STORY   OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

After  the  General  had  gone  I  went  to  the  sergeant  in  command 
of  the  squad  and  told  him  that  I  was  going  back  that  very  aft- 
ernoon instead  of  waiting  until  the  next  morning ;  and  1  accord- 
ingly saddled  up  my  mule  and  set  out  for  Fort  Larned.  I  pro- 
ceeded uninterruptedly  until  I  got  about  half-way  between  the 
two  posts,  when  at  Pawnee  Rock  I  was  suddenly  "  jumped  "  by 
about  forty  Indians,  who  came  dashing  up  to  me,  extending  their 
hands  and  saying,  "  How !  How !"  They  were  some  of  the  In- 
dians who  had  been  hanging  around  Fort  Larned  in  the  morning. 
I  saw  they  had  on  their  war  paint,  and  were  evidently  now  out 
on  the  war-path. 

CAPTURED  BY  INDIANS. 

My  first  impulse  was  to  shake  hands  with  them,  as  they  seemed 
so  desirous  of  it.  I  accordingly  reached  out  my  hand  to  one  of 
them,  who  grasped  it  with  a  tight  grip,  and  jerked  me  violently 
forward ;  another  pulled  my  mule  by  the  bridle,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment I  was  completly  surrounded.  Before  I  could  do  anything 
at  all,  they  had  seized  my  revolvers  from  the  holsters,  and  I  re- 
ceived a  blow  on  the  head  from  a  tomahawk  which  nearly  ren- 
dered me  senseless.  My  gun,  which  was  lying  across  the  saddle, 
was  snatched  from  its  place,  and  finally  the  Indian  who  had  hold 
of  the  bridle  started  off  towards  the  Arkansas  river,  leading  the 
mule,  which  was  being  lashed  by  the  other  Indians  who  were  fol- 
lowing. The  savages  were  all  singing,  yelling  and  whooping,  as 
only  Indians  can  do,  when  they  are  having  their  little  game  all 
their  own  way.  While  looking  towards  the  river  I  saw,  on  the 
opposite  side,  an  immense  village  moving  down  along  the  bank, 
and  then  I  became  convinced  that  the  Indians  had  left  the  post 
and  were  now  starting  out  on  the  war-path.  My  captors  crossed 
the  stream  with  me,  and  as  we  waded  through  the  shallow  water 
they  continued  to  lash  the  mule  and  myself.  Finally  they 
brought  me  before  an  important  looking  body  of  Indians,  who 
proved  to  be  chiefs  and  principal  warriors.  I  soon  recognized 
old  Satanta  among  them,  as  well  as  others  whom  I  knew  and  I 
supposed  it  was  all  over  with  me. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


517 


The  Indians  were  jabbering  away  so  rapidly  among  themselves 
that  I  could  not  understand  what  they  were  saying.  Satanta  at 
last  asked  me  where  I  had  been ;  and  as  good  luck  would  have 
it,  a  happy  thought  struck  me :  I  told  him  I  had  been  after  a  herd 
of  cattle  or  "  whoa-haws,"  as  they  called  them.  It  so  happened 
that  the  Indians  had  been  out  of  meat  for  several  weeks,  as  the 
large  herd  of  cattle  which  had  been  promised  them  had  not  yet 
arrived,  although  expected  by  them. 

A  CLEVER  RUSE  SECURES  MY  ESCAPE. 

The  moment  I  mentioned  that  I  had  been  searching  for  the 
"  whoa-haws,"  old  Santa  began  questioning  me  in  a  very  eager 


CAPTURED   BY   THE   INDIANS. 

manner.  He  asked  me  where  the  cattle  were,  and  I  replied  that 
they  were  back  only  a  few  miles,  and  that  I  had  been  sent  by 
General  Hazen  to  inform  him  that  the  cattle  were  coming,  and 
that  they  were  intended  for  his  people.  This  seemed  to  please 
the  old  rascal,  who  also  wanted  to  know  if  there  were  any  sol- 
diers with  the  herd,  and  my  reply  was  that  there  were.  There- 
upon the  chiefs  held  a  consultation,  and  presently  Satanta  asked 


518  STORY  OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

me  if  General  Hazen  had  really  said  that  they  should  have  the 
cattle.  I  replied  in  the  affirmative,  and  a-lded  that  I  had  been 
directed  to  bring  the  cattle  to  them .  I  follow  id  this  up  with  a  very 
dignified  inquiry,  asking  why  his  young  me  a  had  treated  me  so. 
The  old  wretch  intimated  that  it  was  only  ' '  o  freak  of  the  boys ; ' ' 
that  the  young  men  wanted  to  see  if  I  was  brave ;  in  fact,  they 
had  only  meant  to  test  my  bravery,  and  that  the  whole  thing  was 
a  joke. 

The  veteran  liar  was  now  beating  me  at  my  own  game  of 
lying;  but  I  was  very  glad  of  it,  as  it  was  in  my  favor.  I  did 
not  let  him  suspect  that  I  doubted  his  veracity,  but  I  remarked 
that  it  was  a  rough  way  to  treat  friends.  He  immediately  or- 
dered his  young  men  to  give  me  back  my  arms  and  scored  them 
for  what  they  had  done.  Of  course,  the  sly  old  dog  was  now 
playing  it  very  fine,  as  he  was  anxious  to  get  possession  of  the 
cattle,  with  which  he  believed  "  there  was  a  heap  of  soldiers 
coming."  He  had  concluded  it  was  not  best  to  fight  the  soldiers 
if  he  could  get  the  cattle  peaceably. 

Another  council  was  held  by  the  chiefs  and  in  a  few  minutes 
old  Satanta  came  and  asked  me  if  I  would  go  over  and  bring  the 
cattle  down  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  so  that  they  could 
get  them.  I  replied:  "Of  course;  that's  my  instruction  from 
General  Hazen." 

Satanta  said  I  must  not  feel  angry  at  his  young  men,  for  they 
had  only  been  acting  in  fun.  He  then  inquired  if  I  wished  any 
of  his  men  to  accompany  me  to  the  cattle  herd.  I  replied  that 
it  would  be  better  for  me  to  go  alone,  and  then  the  soldiers  could 
keep  right  on  to  Fort  Larned,  while  I  could  drive  the  herd  down 
on  the  bottom.  So,  wheeling  my  mule  around,  I  was  soon  re- 
erossing  the  river,  leaving  old  Satanta  in  the  firm  belief  that  I 
had  told  him  a  straight  story  and  was  going  for  the  cattle  which 
only  existed  in  my  imagination. 

I  hardly  knew  what  to  do,  but  thought  that  if  I  could  get  the 
river  between  the  Indians  and  myself  I  would  have  a  good  thvee- 
quarters  of  a  mile  the  start  of  them,  and  could  then  make  9  r\m 
for  Fort  Larned,  as  my  mule  was  a  good  one. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  519 

STRETCHING   MY   MULE. 

Thus  far  my  cattle  story  bad  panned  out  all  right;  but  just  as 
I  reached  the  opposite  banLof  the  river  I  looked  behind  and  saw 
that  ten  or  fifteen  Indians  who  had  begun  to  suspect  something 
crooked  were  following  me.  The  moment  that  my  mule  secured 
a  gocc!  foothold  on  the  bank  I  urged  him  into  a  gentle  lope 
towards  the  place  where,  according  to  my  statement,  the  cattle 
were  to  be  brought.  Upon  reaching  a  little  ridge  and  riding  down 
the  other  side  out  of  view,  I  turned  my  mule  and  headed  him 
westward  for  Fort  Lamed.  I  let  him  out  for  all  that  he  was 
worth,  and  when  I  came  out  on  a  little  rise  of  ground  I  looked 
back  and  saw  the  Indian  village  in  plain  sight.  My  pursuers 
were  now  on  the  ridge  which  I  had  passed  over  and  were  looking 
for  me  in  every  direction. 

Presently  they  spied  me,  and  seeing  that  I  was  running  away 
they  struck  out  in  swift  pursuit,  and  in  a  few  minutes  it  became 
painfully  evident  that  they  were  gaining  on  me.  They  kept  up 
the  chase  as  far  as  Ash  creek,  six  miles  from  Fort  Larned.  I 
still  led  them  half  a  mile,  as  their  horses  had  not  gained  much 
during  the  last  half  of  the  race.  My  mule  seemed  to  have  gotten 
his  second  wind,  and  as  I  was  on  the  old  road  I  played  the  whip 
and  spurs  on  him  without  much  cessation.  The  Indians  like- 
wise urged  their  steeds  to  the  utmost. 

Finally,  upon  reaching  the  dividing  ridge  between  Ash  creek 
and  Pawnee  fork,  I  saw  Fort  Larned  only  four  miles  away.  It 
was  now  sundown  and  I  heard  the  evening  gun  at  the  fort.  The 
troops  of  the  little  garrison  little  dreamed  that  there  was  a  man 
flying  for  his  life  from  the  Indians  and  trying  to  reach  the  post. 
The  Indians  were  once  more  gaining  on  me,  and  when  I  crossed 
the  Pawnee  fork,  two  miles  from  the  post,  two  or  three  of  them 
were  only  a  quarter  of  a  mile  behind  me.  Just  as  I  had  gained 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  stream  I  was  overjoyed  to  see  some 
soldiers  in  a  government  wagon  only  a  short  distance  off.  I 
yelled  at  the  top  of  my  voice  and,  riding  up  to  them,  told  them 
that  the  Indians  were  after  me. 


520 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


AMBUSHING  THE  PURSUERS. 

Denver  Jim,  a  well  known  scout,  asked  how  many  there  were, 
and  upon  my  informing  him  that  there  were  about  a  dozen,  he  said : 
"  Let's  drive  the  wagon  into  the  trees,  and  we'll  lay  for  'em.*' 
The  team  was  hurriedly  driven  in  among  the  trees  and  low  box- 
elder  bushes,  and  there  secreted. 

We  did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  the  Indians,  who  came  dash- 
ing up,  lashing  their  horses,  which  were  panting  and  blowing. 

We  let  two 
of  them 
pass  by,  but 
we  opened  a 
lively  fi  r  e 
on  the  next 
three  or 
four,  killing 
two  at  the 
first  crack. 
The  others 
following, 
discovered 
that  they 
had  run  into 
an  ambush, 
and  whirl- 
ing off  into 
the  brush 
they  turned 

and  ran  back  in  the  direction  whence  they  had  come.  The  two 
who  had  passed  heard  the  firing  and  made  their  escape.  We 
scalped  the  two  that  we  had  killed,  and  appropriated  their  arms 
and  equipments;  and  then  catching  their  horses,  we  made  our 
way  into  the  post.  The  soldiers  had  heard  us  firing,  and  as  we 
were  approaching  the  fort  the  drums  were  being  beaten,  and  the 
buglers  were  sounding  the  call  to  fall  in.  The  officers 


A    RATTLING    SURPRISE    FOR    MY    PURSUERS. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  521 

that  Satanta  and  his  Indians  were  coming  in  to  capture  the 
fort. 

It  seems  that  on  the  morning  of  that  day,  two  hours  after 
General  Hazen  had  taken  his  departure,  old  Satanta  drove  into 
the  post  in  an  ambulance,  which  he  had  received  some  months 
before  as  a  present  from  the  government.  He  appeared  to  be 
angry  and  bent  on  mischief.  In  an  interview  with  Captain  Par- 
ker, the  commanding  officer,  he  asked  why  General  Hazen  had 
left  the  post  without  supplying  the  beef  cattle  which  he  had 
promised  him.  The  Captain  told  him  that  the  cattle  were  surely 
on  the  road,  but  he  could  not  explain  why  they  were  detained. 

The  interview  proved  to  be  a  stormy  one,  and  Satanta  made 
numerous  threats,  saying  that  if  he  wished,  he  could  capture  the 
whole  post  with  his  warriors.  Captain  Parker,  who  was  a  brave 
man,  gave  Satanta  to  understand  that  he  was  reckoning  beyond 
his  powers,  and  would  find  it  a  more  difficult  undertaking  than  he 
had  any  idea  of,  as  they  were  prepared  for  him  at  any  moment. 
The  interview  finally  terminated,  and  Satanta  angrily  left  the 
officer's  presence.  Going  over  to  the  sutler's  store,  he  sold  his  am- 
bulance to  Mr.  Tappan  the  post-trader,  and  with  a  portion  of  the 
proceeds  he  secretly  managed  to  secure  some  whisky  from  some 
bad  men  around  the  fort.  There  are  always  to  be  found  about 
every  frontier  post  some  men  who  will  sell  whisky  to  the  Indians 
at  any  time  and  under  any  circumstances,  notwithstanding  it  is  a 
flagrant  violation  of  both  civil  and  military  regulations. 

Satanta  mounted  his  horse,  and  taking  the  whisky  with  him 
he  rode  rapidly  away  and  proceeded  straight  to  his  village.  He 
had  not  been  gone  over  an  hour,  when  he  returned  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  post  accompanied  by  his  warriors  who  came  in  from  every 
direction,  to  the  number  of  seven  or  eight  hundred.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  irate  old  rascal  was  "  on  his  ear,"  so  to  speak,  and 
it  looked  as  if  he  intended  to  carry  out  his  threat  of  capturing 
the  fort.  The  garrison  at  once  turned  out  and  prepared  to  re- 
ceive the  red-skins,  who,  when  within  half  a  mile,  circled  around 
the  fort  and  fired  numerous  shots  into  it,  instead  of  trying  to 
take  it  by  assault. 


522  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

GOING  ON  THE  WAR-PATZ.' 

While  this  circular  movement  was  going  on,  it  was  observed  that 
the  Indian  village  in  the  distance  was  packing  up,  preparatory  tc 
leaving,  and  it  was  soon  under  way.  The  mounted  warriors  re- 
mained behind  some  little  time,  to  give  their  families  an  opportu- 
nity to  get  away,  as  they  feared  that  the  troops  might  possibly  in 
some  manner  intercept  them.  Finally,  they  encircled  the  post 
several  times,  fired  some  farewell  rounds,  and  then  galloped  away 
over  the  prairie  to  overtake  their  fast  departing  village.  On 
their  way  thither,  they  surprised  and  killed  a  party  of  wood- 
choppers  down  on  the  Pawnee  fork,  as  well  as  some  herders  who 
were  guarding  beef  cattle ;  some  seven  or  eight  men  in  all  were 
killed,  and  it  was  evident  that  the  Indians  meant  business. 

The  soldiers  with  the  wagon  —  whom  I  had  met  at  the  crossing 
of  the  Pawnee  fork  —  had  been  out  for  the  bodies  of  the  men. 
Under  the  circumstances  it  was  no  wonder  that  the  garrison, 
upon  hearing  the  reports  of  our  guns  when  we  fired  upon  the 
party  whom  we  ambushed,  should  have  thought  the  Indians  were 
coming  back  to  give  them  another  "  turn." 

We  found  that  all  was  excitement  at  the  post;  double  guards 
had  been  put  on  duty,  and  Captain  Parker  had  all  the  scouts  at 
his  headquarters.  He  was  endeavoring  to  get  some  one  to  take 
some  important  dispatches  to  General  Sheridan  at  Fort  Hays. 
I  reported  to  him  at  once,  and  stated  where  I  met  the  Indians 
and  how  I  had  escaped  from  them. 

"  You  were  very  fortunate,  Cody,  in  thinking  of  that  cattle 
story ;  but  for  that  little  game  your  hair  would  now  be  an  orna- 
ment toaKiowa's  lodge, "  said  he. 

Just  then  Dick  Curtis  spoke  up  and  said:  "  Cody,  the  Captain 
is  anxious  to  send  some  dispatches  to  General  Sheridan,  at  Fort 
Hays,  and  none  of  the  scouts  here  seem  to  be  very  willing  to  un- 
dertake the  trip.  They  say  they  are  not  well  enough  acquainted 
with  the  country  to  find  the  way  at  night." 

A    TERRIBLE    DUTY. 

As  a  storm  was  coming  up  it  was  quite  dark,  and  the  scouts 
feared  that  they  would  lose  the  way;  besides,  it  was  a  dangerous 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BULLALO    BILL.  523 

ride,  as  a  large  party  of  Indians  were  known  to  be  camped  on 
Walnut  creek,  on  the  direct  road  to  Fort  Hays.  It  was  evident 
that  Curtis  was  trying  to  induce  me  to  volunteer,  so  I  made  some 
evasive  answer  to  him  for  I  did  not  care  to  volunteer  after 
my  long  day's  ride.  But  Curtis  did  not  let  the  matter  drop. 
Said  he :  — 

"  I  wish,  Bill,  that  you  were  not  so  tired  by  your  chase  of  to- 
day, for  you  know  the  country  better  than  the  rest  of  the  boys, 
and  I  am  certain  that  you  could  go  through." 

"  As  far  as  the  ride  to  Fort  Hays  is  concerned,  that  alone 
would  matter  but  little  to  me,"  I  said,  "  but  it  is  a  risky  piece  of 
work  just  now,  as  the  country  is  full  of  hostile  Indians ;  still,  if  no 
other  scout  is  willing  to  volunteer,  I  will  chance  it.  I'll  go,  pro- 
vided I  am  furnished  Wiin  a  gooa  norse.  I  am  tired  of  being 
cLa»ed  on  a  government  mule  by  Indians."  At  this  Captain 
Nolan,  who  had  been  listening  to  our  conversation,  said:  — 

"  Bill,  you  may  have  the  best  horse  in  my  company.  You 
can  take  your  choice  if  you  will  carry  these  dispatches.  Although 
it  is  against  regulations  to  dismount  an  enlisted  man,  I  have  no 
hesitancy  in  such  a  case  of  urgent  necessity  as  this  is,  in  telling 
you  that  you  may  have  any  horse  you  may  wish." 

"  Captain,  your  first  sergeant  has  a  splendid  horse,  and  that's 
the  one  I  want.  If  he'll  let  me  ride  that  horse,  I'll  be  ready  to 
start  in  one  hour,  storm  or  no  storm,"  said  I. 

"  Good  enough,  Bill;  you  shall  have  the  horse;  but  are  you 
sure  you  can  find  your  way  on  such  a  dark  night  as  this  ? ' ' 

*«  I  have  hunted  on  nearly  every  acre  of  ground  between  here 
and  Fort  Hays,  and  I  can  almost  keep  my  route  by  the  bones  of 
the  dead  buffaloes,"  I  confidently  replied. 

"  Never  fear,  Captain,  about  Cody  not  finding  the  way;  he  is 
HS  good  in  the  dark  as  he  is  in  the  daylight,"  said  Curtis. 


« 


OFF    IN   THE    DARK. 

An  orderly  was  sent  for  the  horse,  and  the  animal  was  soon 
brought  up,  although  the  sergeant  "  kicked  "  a  little  against  let- 
ting him  go.  After  eating  a  lunch  and  filling  a  canteen  with 


524 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


brandy,  I  went  to  headquarters  and  put  my  own  saddle  and 
bridle  on  the  horse  I  was  to  ride.  I  then  got  the  dispatches,  and 
by  ten  o'clock  was  on  the  road  to  Fort  Hays,  which  was  sixty-five 
miles  distant  across  the  country. 

It  was  dark  as  pitch,  but  this  I  rather  liked,  as  there  was  little 
probability  of  any  of  the  red-skins  seeing  me  unless  I  stumbled 
upon  them  accidentally.  My  greatest  danger  was  that  my  horse 
might  run  into  a  hole  and  fall  down,  and  in  this  way  get  away 

from  me.  To  avoid  any  such 
accident,!  tied  one  end  of  my  raw- 
hide lariat  to  the  bridle  and  the 
other  end  to  my  belt.  I  didn't 
propose  to  be  left  on  foot  alone 
out  on  the  prairie. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  wise  precaution 
that  I  had  taken,  for  within  the 
next  three  miles  the  horse,  sure 
enough,  stepped  into  a  prairie- 
dog's  hole,  and  down  he  went, 
throwing  me  clear  over  his  head. 
Springing  to  his  feet,  before  I 
could  catch  hold  of  the  bridle,  he 
galloped  away  into  the  darkness ; 
but  when  he  reached  the  full  length 
of  the  lariat,  he  found  that  he  was 
not  so  loose  as  he  believed.  I 

AN  ACCIDENT  IN  THE  DARK.  brought  him  up  standing,  and 
after  finding  my  gun,  which  had  dropped  to  the  ground,  I  went 
up  to  him  and  in  a  moment  was  in  the  saddle  again,  and  went  on 
my  way  rejoicing,  keeping  straight  on  my  course  until  I  came  to 
the  ravines  leading  into  Walnut  creek,  twenty-five  miles  from 
Fort  Lamed,  where  the  country  became  rougher,  requiring  me 
to  travel  slower  and  more  carefully,  as  I  feared  the  horse  might 
fall  over  the  bank,  it  being  difficult  to  see  anything  five  feet  ahead. 
As  a  good  horse  is  not  very  apt  to  jump  over  a  bank,  if  left  to 
guide  himself,  I  let  mine  pick  his  own  way.  I  was  now  proceed- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  525- 

ing  as  quietly  as  possible,  for  I  was  in  the  vicinity  of  a  band  of 
Indians  who  had  recently  camped  in  that  locality.  I  thought  that 
I  had  passed  somewhat  above  the  spot,  having  made  a  little  circuit 
to  the  west  with  that  intention ;  but  as  bad  luck  would  have  it  this 
time,  when  I  came  up  near  the  creek  I  suddenly  rode  in  among  a 
herd  of  horses.  The  animals  became  frightened  and  ran  off  in 
every  direction. 

STUMBLING    ONTO    A    HORNETS*    NEST. 

I  knew  at  once  that  I  was  among  Indian  horses,  and  had  walked 
into  the  wrong  pew;  so  without  waiting  to  apologize,  I  backed 
out  as  quickly  as  possible.  At  this  moment  a  dog,  not  fifty  yards 
away,  set  up  a  howl,  and  then  I  heard  some  Indians  engaged  in 
conversation ;  —  they  were  guarding  the  horses,  and  had  been 
sleeping.  Hearing  my  horse's  retreating  footsteps  towards  the 
hills,  and  thus  becoming  aware  that  there  had  been  an  enemy  in 
their  camp,  they  mounted  their  steeds  and  started  for  me 

I  urged  my  horse  to  his  full  speed,  taking  the  chances  of  hi» 
falling  into  holes,  and  guided  him  up  the  creek  bottom.     The 
[ndians  followed  me  as  fast  as  they  could  by  the  noise  I  made, 
>ut  I  soon  distanced  them,   and  then  crossed  the  creek. 
When  I  had  traveled  several  miles  in  a  straight  course,  as  I 
ipposed,  I  took  out  my  compass  and  by  the  light  of  a  match  saw- 
it  I  was  bearing  two  points  to  the  east  of  north.     At  once 
changing   my   course  to  the  direct  route,  I  pushed  rapidly  on 
trough  the  darkness  towards  Smoky  Hill  river.     At  about  three 
>' clock  in  the  morning  I  began  traveling  more  cautiously,  as  I 
afraid  of  running  into  another  band  of  Indians.     Occasionally 
scared  up  a  herd  of  buffaloes,  or  antelopes,  or  coyotes,  or  deer, 
would  frighten  my  horse  for  a  moment,  but  with  the  ex- 
sption  of  these  slight  alarms  I  got  along  all  right. 
After  crossing  Smoky  Hill  river,  I  felt  comparatively  safe  as 
[is  was  the  last  stream  I  had  to  pass.     Riding  on  to  the  north- 
ward I  struck  the  old  Santa  Fe  trail,  ten  miles  from  Fort  Haysr 
just  at  break  of  day. 
My  horse  did  not  seem  much  fatigued,  and  being  anxious  to 


8TORT   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

make  good  time  and  get  as  near  the  post  as  possible  before  it  was 
fairly  daylight,  as  there  might  be  bands  of  Indians  camped  along 
Big  creek,  I  urged  him  forward  as  fast  as  he  could  go.  As  I 
had  not  "lost"  any  Indians,  I  was  not  now  anxious  to  make 
their  acquaintance,  and  shortly  after  reveille  rode  into  the  post. 
I  proceeded  directly  to  General  Sheridan's  headquarters,  and 
was  met  at  the  door  by  Colonel  Moore,  aid-de-camp  on  General 
Sheridan's  staff,  who  asked  me  on  what  business  I  had  come. 

"  I  have  dispatches  for  General  Sheridan,  and  my  instructions 
from  Captain  Parker,  commanding  Fort  Lamed,  are  that  they 
shall  be  delivered  to  the  General  as  soon  as  possible,"  said  I. 

Colonel  Moore  invited  me  into  one  of  the  offices,  and  said  he 
would  hand  the  dispatches  to  the  General  as  soon  as  he  got  up . 

"  I  prefer  to  give  these  dispatches  to  General  Sheridan  myself, 
and  at  once,"  was  my  reply. 

The  General,  who  was  sleeping  in  the  same  building,  hearing 
our  voices,  called  out,  "  Send  the  man  in  with  the  dispatches." 
I  was  ushered  into  the  General's  presence,  and  as  we  had  met 
before  he  recognized  me  and  said :  "  Hello,  Cody,  is  that  you?" 

"  Yes,  sir;  I  have  some  dispatches  here  for  you,  from  Captain 
Parker,"  said  I,  as  I  handed  the  package  over  to  him. 

He  hurriedly  read  them,  and  said  they  were  important;  and 
then  he  asked  me  all  about  General  Hazen  and  where  he  had  gone, 
and  about  the  breaking  out  of  the  Kiowas  and  Comanches.  I 
gave  him  all  the  information  that  I  possessed,  and  related  the 
events  and  adventures  of  the  previous  day  and  night. 

AN  INTERVIEW  WITH  SHERIDAN. 

"Bill,"  said  he,  "you  must  have  had  a  pretty  lively  ride. 
You  certainly  had  a  close  call  when  you  ran  into  the  Indians  on 
Walnut  creek.  That  was  a  good  joke  that  you  played  on  old 
Satanta.  I  suppose  you're  pretty  tired  after  your  long  journey  ?' ' 

"  I  am  rather  weary,  General,  that's  a  fact,  as  I  have  been  in 
the  saddle  since  yesterday  morning;"  was  my  reply,  "  but  iny 
horse  is  more  tired  than  I  am,  and  needs  attention  fully  as  much 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


527 


if  not  more,'*  I  added.  Thereupon  the  General  called  an  orderly 
and  gave  instructions  to  have  my  animal  well  taken  care  of,  and 
then  he  said,  "  Cody,  come  in  and  have  some  breakfast  with  me." 

"  No,  thank  you,  General,"  said  I,  "  Hays  City  is  only  a  mile 
from  here,  and  I  prefer  riding  over  there,  as  I  know  about  every 
one  in  the  town,  and  want  to  see  some  of  my  friends." 

"  Very  well;  do  as  you  please,  and  come  to  the  post  after- 
wards a,s  I  want  to  see  you,"  said  he. 

Bidding  him  good-morning, 
and  telling  him  that  I  would  re- 
turn in  a  few  hours,  I  rode  over 
to  Hays  City,  and  at  the  Perry 
House  I  met  many  of  my  old 
friends  who  were  of  course  all 
glad  to  see  me.  I  took  some  re- 
freshments and  a  two  hours'  nap, 
and  afterward  returned  to  Fort 
Hays,  as  I  was  requested. 

As  I  rode  up  to  the  headquart- 
ers I  noticed  several  scouts  in  a 
little  group,  evidently  engaged  in 
conversation  on  some  important 
matter.  Upon  inquiry  I  learned 
that  General  Sheridan  had  in- 
formed them  that  he  was  desirous 
of  sending  a  dispatch  to  Fort 
Dodge,  a  distance  of  ninety-five 
miles. 


AN   EARLY    CALL    ON    SHERIDAN. 


The  Indians  had  recently  killed  two  or  three  men  while  they 
were  carrying  dispatches  between  Fort  Hays  and  Fort  Dodge, 
and  on  this  account  none  of  the  scouts  seemed  at  all  anxious  to 
volunteer,  although  a  reward  of  several  hundred  dollars  was 
offered  to  any  one  who  would  carry  the  dispiuclios.  They  had 
learned  of  my  experiences  of  the  previous  day,  and  asked  me  if 
I  did  not  think  it  would  be  a  dangerous  trip.  I  gave  it  as  my 
opinion  that  a  man  might  possibly  go  through  without  seeing  an 


528  STORY   OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

Indian,  but  that  the  chances  were  ten  to  one  that  he  would  have 
an  exceedingly  lively  run  and  a  hard  time  bef ere  he  reached  his 
destination,  if  he  ever  got  there  at  all. 

A   LONG   RIDE. 

Leaving  the  scouts  to  decide  among  themselves  as  to  who  was 
to  go,  I  reported  to  General  Sheridan,  who  also  informed  me 
that  he  wished  some  one  to  carry  dispatches  to  Fort  Dodge. 
While  we  were  talking,  his  chief  of  scouts,  Dick  Parr,  entered 
and  stated  that  none  of  the  scouts  had  yet  volunteered.  Upon 
hearing  this  I  got  my  "  brave  "  up  a  little,  and  said:  "  General, 
if  there  is  no  one  ready  to  volunteer,  I'll  carry  your  dispatches 
myself." 

"  I  had  not  thought  of  asking  you  to  do  this  duty,  Cody,  as 
you  are  already  pretty  hard  worked.  But  it  is  really  important 
that  these  dispatches  should  go  through,"  said  the  General. 

"  Well,  if  you  don't  get  a  courier  by  four  o'clock  this  after- 
noon, I'll  be  ready  for  business  at  that  time.  All  I  want  is  a 
fresh  horse,"  said  I;  "  meantime  I'll  take  a  littlo  more  rest." 

It  was  not  much  of  a  rest,  however,  that  I  got,  for  I  went 
over  to  Hays  City  again  and  had  "  a  time  with  the  boys."  I 
came  back  to  the  post  at  the  appointed  hour,  and  finding  that 
no  one  had  volunteered,  I  reported  to  General  Sheridan.  He 
had  selected  an  excellent  horse  for  me,  and  on  handing  me  the 
dispatches,  he  said:  "  You  can  start  as  soon  as  you  wish  —  the 
sooner  the  better;  and  good  luck  go  with  you,  my  boy." 

In  about  an  hour  afterwards  I  was  on  the  road,  and  just  before 
dark  I  crossed  Smoky  Hill  river.  I  had  not  yet  urged  my  horse 
much,  as  I  was  saving  his  strength  for  the  latter  end  of  the 
route,  and  for  any  run  that  I  might  have  to  make  in  case  the 
"  wild-boys  "  should  "  jump  "  me.  So  far  I  had  not  seen  a  sign 
cf  Indians,  and  as  evening  came  on  I  felt  comparatively  safe. 

I  had  no  adventures  worth  relating  during  the  night,  and  just 
before  daylight  I  found  myself  approaching  Saw-log  crossing, 
on  the  Pawnee  fork,  having  then  ridden  about  seventy  miles. 
A  company  of  colored  cavalry,  commanded  by  Major  Cox, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


529 


was  stationed  at  this  point,  and  I  approached  their  camp 
cautiously,  for  fear  that  the  pickets  might  fire  upon  me —  as  the 
darkey  soldiers  were  liable  to  shoot  first  and  cry  ' '  halt ' '  after- 
wards. When  within  hearing  distance  I  yelled  out  at  the  top  of 
my  voice,  and  was  answered  by  one  of  the  pickets.  I  told  him 
not  to  shoot,  as  I  was  a« 
scout  from  Fort  Hays ;  1 
and  then,  calling  the  ser-i 
geant  of  the  guard,  I  went! 
up  to  the  vidette  of  the| 
post,  who  readily  recog-| 
nized  me.  I  entered  thep 
camp  and  proceeded  to  the 
tent  of  Major  Cox,  to 
whom  I  handed  a  letter 
from  General  Sheridan 
requesting  him  to  give  me 
a  fresh  horse .  He  at  once 
complied  with  the  request. 
After  I  had  slept  an  hour  ] 
and  had  eaten  a  lunch,  I 
again  jumped  into  the 
saddle,  and  before  sunrise 
I  was  once  more  on  the 
road.  It  was  twenty-five 
miles  to  Fort  Dodge,  and 
I  arrived  there  between 
nine  and  ten  o'clock,  with- 
out having  seen  a  single 
Indian. 

After  delivering  the 
dispatches  to  the  com 
manding  officer,  I  met  Johnny  Austin,  chief  of  scouts  at  this  post, 
who  was  an  old  friend  of  mine.  Upon  his  invitation  I  took  a  nap 
at  his  house,  and  when  I  awoke,  fresh  for  business  once  more,  he 
informed  me  that  the  Indians  had  been  all  around  the  post  for  the 

M 


READY   FOR   BUSINESS. 


530  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

past  two  or  three  days,  running  off  cattle  and  horses,  and  occasion* 
ally  killing  a  stray  man.  It  was  a  wonder  to  him  that  I  had 
met  with  none  of  the  red-skins  on  the  way  there.  The  Indians, 
he  said,  were  also  very  thick  on  the  Arkansas  river,  between 
Fort  Dodge  and  Fort  Larned,  and  making  considerable  trouble. 
Fort  Dodge  was  located  sixty-five  miles  west  of  Fort  Larned,  the 
latter  post  being  on  the  Pawnee  fork,  about  five  miles  from  its 
junction  with  the  Arkansas  river. 

A   DANGEROUS   UNDERTAKING. 

The  commanding  officer  at  Fort  Dodge  was  anxious  to  send 
some  dispatches  to  Fort  Larned,  but  the  scouts,  like  those  at 
Fort  Hays,  were  rather  backward  about  volunteering,  as  it  was 
considered  a  very  dangerous  undertaking  to  make  the  trip.  As 
Fort  Larned  was  my  post,  and  as  I  wanted  to  go  there  anyhow, 
I  said  to  Austin  that  I  would  carry  the  dispatches,  and  if  any  of 
the  boys  wished  to  go  along,  I  would  like  to  have  them  for  com- 
pany's sake.  Austin  reported  my  offer  to  the  commanding  offi 
cer,  who  sent  for  me  and  said  he  would  be  happy  to  have  me  taks 
his  dispatches,  if  I  could  stand  the  trip  on  top  of  all  that  I  had 
already  done.  "  All  I  want  is  a  good  fresh  horse,  sir,"  said  I. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  we  haven't  a  decent  horse  here,  but 
we  have  a  reliable  and  honest  government  mule,  if  that  will  do 
you,"  said  the  officer.  "  Trot  out  your  mule,"  said  I,  "  that's 
good  enough  for  me.  I  am  ready  at  any  time,  sir." 

The  mule  was  forthcoming,  and  at  dark  I  pulled  out  for  Fort 
Larned,  and  proceeded  uninterruptedly  to  Coon  creek,  thirty 
miles  out  from  Dodge.  I  had  left  the  main  wagon  road  some 
distance  to  the  south,  and  had  traveled  parallel  with  it,  thinking 
this  to  be  a  safer  course,  as  the  Indians  might  be  lying  in  wait  on 
the  main  road  for  dispatch  bearers  and  scouts. 

At  Coon  creek  I  dismounted  and  led  the  mule  by  the  bridle 
down  to  the  water,  where  I  took  a  drink,  using  my  hat  for  a  dip- 
per.  While  I  was  engaged  in  getting  the  water,  the  mule  jerked 
loose  and  struck  out  down  the  creek.  I  followed  him  in  hopes 
that  he  would  catch  his  foot  in  the  bridle-rein  and  stop,  but  this 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  531 

he  seemed  to  have  no  idea  of  doing.  He  was  making  straight 
for  the  wagon  road,  and  I  did  not  know  what  minute  he  might 
run  into  a  band  of  Indians.  He  finally  got  on  the  road,  but  in- 
stead of  going  back  toward  Fort  Dodge,  as  I  naturally  expected 
he  would  do,  he  turned  eastward  toward  Fort  Larned,  and  kept 
up  a  little  jog  trot  just  ahead  of  me>  but  would  not  let  me  come 
up  to  him,  although  I  tried  it  again  and  again.  I  had  my  gun  in 
my  hand,  and  several  times  I  was  strongly  tempted  to  shoot  him, 
and  would  probably  have  done  so  had  it  not  been  for  fear  of 
bringing  Indians  down  upon  me,  and  besides  he  was  carrying  the 
saddle  for  me.  So  I  trudged  on  after  the  obstinate  "  critter," 
and  if  there  ever  was  a  government  mule  that  deserved  and  re- 
ceived a  good  round  cursing  it  was  that  one.  I  had  neglected 
the  precaution  of  tying  one  end  of  my  lariat  to  his  bit  and  the 
other  to  my  belt,  as  I  had  done  a  few  nights  before,  and  I 
blamed  myself  for  this  gross  piece  of  negligence. 

A  PROVOKING  MULE. 

Mile  after  mile  I  kept  on  after  that  mule,  and  every  once  in  a 
while  I  indulged  in  strong  language  respecting  the  whole  mule 
fraternity.  From  Coon  creek  to  Fort  Larned  it  was  thirty-five 
miles,  and  I  finally  concluded  that  my  prospects  were  good  for 
"hoofing"  the  whole  distance.  We — that  is  to  say,  the  con- 
founded mule  and  myself — were  making  pretty  good  time, 
There  was  nothing  tc  hold  the  mule,  and  I  was  all  the  time  try- 
ing to  catch  him  —  which  urged  him  on.  I  made  every  step 
count,  for  I  wanted  to  reach  Fort  Larned  before  daylight,  in  or- 
der to  avoid  if  possible  the  Indians,  to  whom  it  would  have  been 
"  pie  "  to  have  caught  me  there  on  foot. 

The  mule  stuck  to  the  road  and  kept  on  for  Larned,  and  I  did 
the  same  thing.  Just  as  day  was  beginning  to  break,  we  —  that 
is  the  mule  and  myself  —  found  ourselves  on  a  hill  looking  down 
into  the  valley  of  the  Pawnee  fork,  in  which  Fort  Larned  was 
located,  only  four  miles  away;  and  when  the  morning  gun 
belched  forth  we  were  within  half  a  mile  of  the  post. 

66  Now,"  said  I,  "  Mr.  Mule,  it  is  my  turn,"  and  raising  my 


532 


STORY  OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


gun  to  my  shoulder,   in  "  dead  earnest"   this  time,  I  blazed 

away,  hitting  the  animal  in  the 
hip.  Throwing  a  second  cart- 
ridge into  the  gun,  I  let  him 
have  another  shot,  and  I  con- 
tinued to  pour  the  lead  into  him 
until  I  had  him  completely  laid 
out.  Like  the  great  majority 
of  government  mules,  he  was  a 
tough  one  to  kill,  and  he  clung 
to  life  with  all  the  tenaciousness 
of  his  obstinate  nature.  He 
was,  without  doubt,  the 
toughest  and  meanest  mule  I 
ever  saw,  and  he  died  hard. 

The  troops,  hearing  the  re- 
ports of  the  gun,  came  rushing 
out  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 
They  found  that  the  mule  had 
passed  in  his  chips,  and  when 
they  learned  the  cause  they  all 
agreed  that  I  had  served  him 
just  right.  Taking  the  saddle 
and  bridle  from  the  dead  body, 
I  proceeded  into  the  post  and 
delivered  the  dispatches  to 
Captain  Parker.  I  then  went 
over  to  Dick  Curtis'  house, 
which  was  headquarters  for  the 
scouts,  and  there  put  in  several 
hours  of  solid  sleep. 

During  the  day  General  Hazen 
returned   from    Fort    Barker, 
and  he  also  had  some  important 
PLAGUED  BY  A  MULE.  dispatches  to  send  to  General 

Sheridan.     I  was  feeling  quite  elated  over  my  big  ride;  and  see- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  533 

ing  that  I  was  getting  the  best  of  the  other  scouts  in  regard  to 
making  a  record,  I  volunteered  to  carry  General  Hazen's  dis- 
patches to  Fort  Hays.  The  General  accepted  my  services, 
although  he  thought  it  was  unnecessary  for  me  to  kill  myself. 
I  told  him  that  I  had  business  at  Fort  Hays,  and  wished  to  go 
there  anyway,  and  it  would  make  no  difference  to  the  other 
scouts,  for  none  of  them  appeared  willing  to  undertake  the  trip. 

Accordingly,  that  night  I  left  Fort  Larned  on  an  excellent 
horse,  and  next  morning  at  daylight  found  myself  once  more  in 
General  Sheridan's  headquarters  at  Fort  Hays.  The  General 
was  surprised  to  see  me,  and  still  more  so  when  I  told  him  of 
the  time  I  had  made  in  riding  to  Fort  Dodge,  and  that  I  had 
taken  dispatches  from  Fort  Dodge  to  Fort  Larned;  and  when, 
in  addition  to  this,  I  mentioned  my  journey  of  the  night  previous, 
General  Sheridan  thought  my  ride  from  post  to  post,  taken  as  a 
whole,  was  a  remarkable  one,  and  he  said  that  he  did  not  know 
of  its  equal.  I  can  safely  say  that  I  have  never  heard  of  its 
being  beaten  in  a  country  infested  with  hostile  Indians. 

To  recapitulate:  I  had  ridden  from  Fort  Larned  to  Fort 
Zarah  (a  distance  of  sixty-five  miles)  and  back  in  twelve  hours, 
including  the  time  when  I  was  taken  across  the  Arkansas  by  the 
Indians.  In  the  succeeding  twelve  hours  I  had  gone  from  Fort 
Larned  to  Fort  Hays,  a  distance  of  sixty-five  miles.  In  the  next 
twenty-four  hours  I  had  gone  from  Fort  Hays  to  Fort  Dodge,  a 
distance  of  ninety-five  miles.  The  following  night  I  had  trav- 
eled from  Fort  Dodge  thirty  miles  on  muleback  and  thirty-five 
miles  on  foot  to  Fort  Larned ;  and  the  next  night  sixty-five  miles 
more  to  Fort  Hays.  Altogether  I  had  ridden  (and  walked)  355 
miles  in  fifty-eight  riding  hours,  or  an  average  of  over  six  miles 
an  hour.  Of  course,  this  may  not  be  regarded  as  very  fast  rid- 
ing,  but  taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  it  was  mostly 
done  in  the  night  and  over  a  wild  country,  with  no  roads  to  foL, 
low,  and  that  I  had  to  be  continually  on  the  look-out  for  Indians^ 
it  was  thought  at  the  time  to  be  a  big  ride,  as  well  as  a  most 
dangerous  one. 


534 


STOBT   OF  THE   WILD   WEST 


CHAP TEE    XL 


MY  APPOINTMENT  AS    CHIEF  OF  8COUTS. 

^  ENERAL  SHERIDAN  highly  compli- 
mented me  for  what  I  had  done  and 
informed  me  that  I  need  not  report 
back  to  General  Hazen,  as  he  had 
more  important  work  for  me  to  do. 
He  told  me  that  the  Fifth  Cavalry  — 
one  of  the  finest  regiments  in  the 
army  —  was  on  its  way  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Missouri,  and  that  he  was 
going  to  send  it  on  an  expedition 
against  the  Dog  Soldier  Indians,  who 
were  infesting  the  Republican  river 
region. 

"  Cody,"  continued  he,  "I  have  decided  to  appoint  you  as 
guide  and  chief  of  scouts  with  the  command.  How  does  that 
suit  you?' 

"  First-rate,  General,  and  I  thank  you  for  the  honor,"  I  re- 
plied, as  gracefully  as  I  knew  how. 

The  Dog  Soldier  Indians  were  a  band  of  Cheyennes  and  unruly, 
turbulent  members  of  other  tribes,  who  would  not  enter  into  any 
treaty,  or  keep  a  treaty  if  they  made  one,  and  who  had  always 
refused  to  go  upon  a  reservation.  They  were  a  warlike  body  of 
well  built,  daring  and  restless  braves,  and  were  determined  to 
hold  possession  of  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Republican 
and  Solomon  rivers.  Th^y  were  called  "  Dog  Soldiers  "  because 
they  were  principally  Cheyennes  —  a  name  derived  from  the 
French  chien,  a  dog. 

SCOUTING. 

On  the  third  day  of  October  the  Fifth  Cavalry  arrived  at  Foi 
Hays,  and  I  at  once  began  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  dif- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


535 


ferent  officers  of  the  regiment.  I  was  introduced  by  General 
Sheridan  to  Colonel  William  Royal,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
regiment.  He  was  a  gallant  officer  and  an  agreeable  and  pleasant 
gentleman.  He  was  afterwards  stationed  at  Omaha  as  Inspector- 
General  in  the  Department  of  the  Platte.  I  also  became 
acquainted  with  Major  W.  H.  Brown,  Major  Walker,  Captain 
Sweetman,  Quartermaster  E.  M.  Hays,  and  in  fact  all  the  officers 
of  the  regiment. 

General  Sheridan,  being  anxious  to  punish  the  Indians  who 
had  lately  fought  General  Forsyth,  did  not  give  the  regiment 


GOVERNMENT    MULE    TEAM. 


much  of  a  rest,  and  accordingly  on  the  5th  of  October  it  began 
its  march  for  the  Beaver  creek  country.  The  first  night  we 
camped  on  the  south  fork  of  Big  creek,  four  miles  west  of  Hays 
City.  By  this  time  I  had  become  pretty  well  acquainted  with 
Major  Brown  and  Captain  Sweetman,  who  invited  me  to  mess 
with  them  on  this  expedition,  and  a  jolly  mess  we  had.  There 
were  other  scouts  in  the  command  besides  myself  and  I  particu- 
larly remember  Tom  Renahan,  Hank  Fields  and  a  character 
called  "Nosey  "  on  account  of  his  long  nose. 

On  the  morning  of  the  6th  we  pulled  out  to  the  north,  and 
during  the  day  I  was  very  favorably  struck  with  the  appearance 


536  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

of  the  regiment.  It  was  a  beautiful  command  and  when  strung 
out  on  the  prairie  with  a  train  of  seventy-five  six-mule-wagons, 
ambulances  and  pack-mules,  I  felt  very  proud  of  my  position  as 
guide  and  chief  of  scouts  of  such  a  warlike  expedition. 
.  Just  as  we  were  about  to  go  into  camp  on  the  Saline  river  that 
night,  we  ran  on  to  a  band  of  about  fifteen  Indians,  who,  seeing 
us,  dashed  across  the  creek,  followed  by  some  bullets  which  we 
sent  after  them  ;  but  as  the  small  band  proved  to  be  a  scouting 
party,  we  pursued  them  only  a  mile  or  two,  when  our  attention 
was  directed  to  a  herd  of  buffaloes,  which  we  immediately  pur- 
sued and  killed  ten  or  fifteen  for  the  command. 

The  next  day  we  marched  thirty  miles,  and  late  in  the  after- 
noon we  went  into  camp  on  the  South  fork  of  the  Solomon.  At 
this  encampment  Colonel  Royal  asked  me  to  go  out  and  kill  some 
buffaloes  for  the  boys. 

"All  right,  Colonel,  send  along  a  wagon  or  two  to  bring  in  the 
meat,"  I  said. 

"  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  sending  out  my  wagons  until  I  know 
that  there  is  something  to  be  hauled  in  ;  kill  your  buffaloes  first 
and  then  I'll  send  out  the  wagons,"  was  the  Colonel's  reply.  I 
said  no  more,  but  went  out  on  a  hunt,  and  after  a  short  absence 
returned  and  asked  the  Colonel  to  send  his  wagons  over  the  hill 
for  the  half  dozen  buffaloes  I  had  killed. 

BRINGING   LIVE    BUFFALOES    INTO    CAMP. 

The  following  afternoon  he  again  requested  me  to  go  out  and 
get  some  fresh  buffalo  meat.  I  didn't  ask  him  for  any  wagons 
this  time,  but  rode  out  some  distance,  and  coming  up  with  a  small 
herd,  I  managed  to  get  seven  of  them  headed  straight  for  the  en- 
campment, and  instead  of  shooting  them  just  then,  I  ran  them  at 
full  speed  right  into  the  camp,  and  then  killed  them  all,  one  after 
the  other  in  rapid  succession.  Colonel  Royal  witnessed  the  whole 
proceeding,  which  puzzled  him  somewhat,  as  he  could  see  no 
reason  why  I  had  not  killed  them  on  the  prairie.  He  came  up 
rather  angrily,  and  demanded  an  explanation.  "  I  can't  allow  any 
such  business  as  this,  Cody,"  said  he,  "  what  do  you  mean  by  it  ?  " 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


537 


"  I  didn't  care  about  asking  for  any  wagons  this  time,  Colonel ; 
so  I  thought  I  would  make  the  buffaloes  furnish  their  own  trans- 
portation," was  my  reply.  The  Colonel  saw  the  point  in  a  mo- 
ment, and  had  no  more  to  say  on  the  subject. 

No  Indians  had  been  seen  in  the  vicinity  during  the  day  and 
Colonel  Royal  having  carefully  posted  his  pickets,  supposed  every- 
thing was  serene  for  the  night.  But  before  morning  we  were 
aroused  from  our  slumbers  by  hearing  shots  fired,  ^A  immediately 
afterwards  one  of  the  mounted  pickets  came  galloping  into  camp, 


BRINGING   LIVE    MEAT    INTO    CAMP. 

aying  that  there  were  Indians  close  at  hand.  The  companies  all 
Fell  into  line,  and  were  soon  prepared  and  anxious  to  give  the  red- 
:ins  battle  ;  but  as  the  men  were  yet  new  in  the  Indian  country  a 
great  many  of  them  were  considerably  excited.  No  Indians,  how- 
ever, made  their  appearance,  and  upon  going  to  the  picket-post 
where  the  picket  said  he  seen  them  none  could  be  found,  nor  could 
any  traces  of  them  be  discovered.  The  sentinel, —  who  was  an 
Irishman,  —  insisted  that  there  certainly  had  been  red-skins 
there. 


538  STOKY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

A   SCARED    IRISHMAN. 

"But  you  must  be  mistaken,"  said  Colonel  Royal. 
"Upon  me  sowl,  Colonel,  I'm  not;  as  shure  ez  me  name's 
Pat  Maloney,  one  of  thim  rid  divils  hit  me  on  the  head  wid  a 
club,  so  he  did,"  said  Pat;  and  so,  when  morning  came,  the  mys- 
tery was  further  investigated  and  was  easily  solved.  Elk  tracks 
were  found  in  the  vicinity  and  it  was  undoubtedly  a  herd  of  elks 

that  had  frightened  Pat ;  as  he 
had  turned  to  run,  he  had  gone 
under  a  limb  of  a  tree,  against 
which  he  hit  his  head,  and  sup- 
posed he  had  been  struck  by  a 
club  in  the  hands  of  an  Indian. 
It  was  hard  to  convince  Pat 
however,  of  the  truth. 

A  three  days'  uninteresting 
march  brought  us  to  Beaver 
creek  where  we  camped  and 
from  which  point  scouting 
parties  were  sent  out  in  different 
directions.  Neither  of  these, 
however,  discovering  Indians 
they  all  returned  to  camp  about 
the  same  time,  finding  it  in  a 
state  of  great  excitement,  it 
having  been  attacked  a  few 
INDIANS,  UPON  ME  SOWL.  hours  previous  by  a  party  of 

Indians,  who  had  succeeded  in  killing  two  men  and  in  making  off 
with  sixty  horses  belonging  to  Co.  H. 

That  evening  the  command  started  on  the  trail  of  these  Indian 
horse-thieves;  Major  Brown  with  two  companies  and  three  days 
rations  pushing  ahead  in  advance  of  the  main  command.  Being 
unsuccessful,  however,  in  overtaking  the  Indians,  and  getting 
nearly  out  of  provisions—  it  being  our  eighteenth  day  out  — the 
entire  command  marched  towards  the  nearest  railroad  point,  and 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  539 

camped  on  the  Saline  river,  distant  three  miles  from  Buffalo 
Tank.  While  waiting  for  supplies  we  received  a  new  commanding 
officer,  Brevet  Major-General  E.  A.  Carr,  who  was  the  senior 
major  of  the  regiment,  and  who  ranked  Colonel  Royal.  He 
brought  with  him  the  now  celebrated  Forsyth  scouts,  who  were 
commanded  by  Lieutenant  Pepoon,  a  regular-army  officer. 

It  was  also  while  waiting  in  this  camp  that  Major  Brown  received 
a  new  lieutenant  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  his  company.  On  the  day  that 
this  officer  was  to  arrive,  Major  Brown  had  his  private  ambulance 
brought  out,  and  invited  me  to  accompany  him  to  the  railroad 
station  to  meet  his  lieutenant,  whose  name  was  A.  B.  Bache.  He 
proved  to  be  a  fine  gentleman,  and  a  brave,  dashing  officer.  On 
the  way  to  the  depot  Major  Brown  had  said,  "  Now,  Cody,  when 
we  come  back  we'll  give  Bache  a  lively  ride  and  shake  him  up  a 
little." 

A    LIVELY    SHAKING   UP. 

Major  Brown  was  a  jolly  good  fellow,  but  sometimes  he  would 
get  "  a  little  off,"  and  as  this  was  one  of  his  "  off  days  "  he  was 
bound  to  amuse  himself  in  some  original  and  mischievous  way. 
Reaching  the  depot  just  as  the  train  came  in,  we  easily  found  the 
Lieutenant,  and  giving  him  the  back  seat  in  the  ambulance  we 
were  soon  headed  for  camp. 

Pretty  soon  Major  Brown  took  the  reins  from  his  driver,  and 

at  once  began  whipping  the  mules.     After  getting  them  into  a 

lively  gallop  he  pulled  out  his  revolver  and  fired  several  shots. 

The  road  was  terribly  rough  and  the  night  was  so  dark  that  we 

could   hardly  see  where   we  were   going.     It  was  a  wonderful 

>iece  of  luck  that  we  were  not  tipped  over  and  our  necks  broken. 

'inally  Bache  said,  good-humoredly :  — 

"  Is  this  the  way  you  break  in  all  your  Lieutenants,  Major?  " 
"  Oh,  no;  I  don't  do  this  as  a  regular  thing,  but  it's  the  way 
re  frequently  ride  in  this  country,"  said  the  Major;  "  just  keep 
rour  seat,  Mr.  Bache,  and  we'll  take  you  through   on  time." 
"he   Major  appropriated  the  reply   of  the  old  California  stage- 
driver,  Hank  Monk,  to  Horace  Greely. 

We  were  now  rattling  down  a  steep  hill  at  full  speed,  and  just 


540  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

as  we  reached  the  bottom,  the  front  wheels  struck  a  deep  ditcb 
over  which  the  mules  had  jumped.  We  were  all  brought  up 
standing  by  the  sudden  stoppage  of  the  ambulance.  Major 
Brown  and  myself  were  nearly  pitched  out  on  the  wheels,  while 
the  Lieutenant  came  flying  headlong  from  the  back  seat  to  the 
front  of  the  vehicle. 

"  Take  a  back  seat,  Lieutenant,"  coolly  said  Major  Brown. 

"  Major,  I  have  just  left  that  seat,"  said  Bache. 

We  soon  lifted  the  wagon  out  of  the  ditch,  and  then  resumed 
our  drive,  running  into  camp  under  full  headway,  and  creating 
considerable  amusement.  Every  one  recognized  the  ambulance 
and  knew  at  once  that  Major  Brown  and  I  were  out  on  a  "  lark," 
and  therefore  there  was  not  much  said  about  our  exploit.  Halt- 
ing with  a  grand  flourish  in  front  of  his  tent,  Major  Brown 
jumped  out  in  his  most  gallant  style  and  politely  asked  his  lieu- 
tenant in.  A  very  pleasant  evening  was  spent  there,  quite  a 
number  of  the  officers  calling  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
new  officer,  who  entertained  the  visitors  with  an  amusing  account 
of  the  ride  from  the  depot. 

Next  morning  at  an  early  hour,  the  command  started  out  on  a 
hunt  for  Indians.  General  Carr  having  a  pretty  good  idea  where 
he  would  be  most  likely  to  find  them,  directed  me  to  guide  him 
by  the  nearest  route  to  Elephant  Kock  on  Beaver  creek. 

IN   SEARCH   OF   INDIANS. 

Upon  arriving  at  the  south  fork  of  the  Beaver  on  the  second 
day's  march,  we  discovered  a  large,  fresh  Indian  trail  which  we 
hurriedly  followed  for  a  distance  of  eight  miles,  when  suddenly 
we  saw  on  the  bluffs  ahead  of  us,  quite  a  large  number  of 
Indians. 

General  Carr  ordered  Lieutenant  Pepoon's  scouts  and  Com- 
pany M  to  the  front.  This  company  was  commanded  by  Lieu- 
tenant Schinosky,  a  Frenchman  by  birth  and  a  reckless  dare-devil 
by  nature,  who  was  anxious  to  have  a  hair -lift  ing  match. 
Having  advanced  his  company  nearly  a  mile  ahead  of  the  main 
command,  about  four  hundred  Indians  suddenly  charged  down 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  BUFFALO  BILL. 


541 


upon  him  and  gave  him  a  lively 
little  fight,  until  he  was  sup- 
ported by  our  full  force. 

The  Indians  kept  increasing  in 
numbers  all  the  while  until  it 
was  estimated  that  we  were  fight- 
ing from  eight  hundred  to  one 
thousand  of  them.  The  engage- 
ment became  quite  general,  and 
several  were  killed  and  wounded 
on  each  side.  The  Indians  were 
evidently  fighting  to  give  their 
families  and  village  a  chance  to 
get  away.  We  had  undoubtedly 
surprised  them  with  a  larger 
force  than  they  had  expected  to 
see  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
We  fought  them  until  dark,  all 
the  time  driving  them  before  us. 

o 

At  night  they  annoyed  us  con- 
siderably by  firing  down  into  our 
camp  from  the  higher  hills,  and 
several  times  the  command  was 
ordered  out  to  dislodge  them 
from  their  position  and  drive 
them  back. 

After  having  returned  from 
one  of  these  little  sallies,  Major 
Brown,  Captain  S  ^  e  e  t  m  a  n, 
Lieutenant  Bache  and  myself 
were  taking  supper  together, 
when  "  whang!"  came  a  bullet 
into  Lieutenant  Bache' s  plate, 
breaking  a  hole  through  it.  The 
bullet  came  from  the  gun  of  one 
of  the  Indians,  who  had  re-l 
turned  to  the  high  bluff  overlook- • 


A    CRACK    SHOT. 


542  STORY   OP   THE   WILD   WEST. 

ing  our  camp.  Major  Brown  declared  it  was  a  crack  shot,  be- 
cause it  broke  the  plate.  We  finished  our  supper  without  having 
any  more  such  close  calls. 

At  daylight  next  morning  we  struck  out  on  the  trail,  and  soon 
came  to  the  spot  where  the  Indians  had  camped  the  day  before. 
We  could  see  that  their  village  was  a  very  large  one,  consisting 
of  about  five  hundred  lodges ;  and  we  pushed  forward  rapidly 
from  this  point  on  the  trail  which  ran  back  toward  Prairie  Dog 
creek. 

About  two  o'clock  we  came  in  sight  of  the  retreating  village, 
and  soon  the  warriors  turned  back  to  give  us  battle.  They  set 
fire  to  the  prairie  grass  in  front  of  us,  and  on  all  sides,  in  order 
to  delay  us  as  much  as  possible.  We  kept  up  a  running  fight  for 
the  remainder  of  the  afternoon,  and  the  Indians  repeatedly  at- 
tempted to  lead  us  off  the  track  of  their  flying  village,  but  their 
trail  was  easily  followed,  as  they  were  continually  dropping  tepee 
poles,  camp  kettles,  robes,  furs  and  all  heavy  articles  belonging 
to  them.  They  were  evidently  scattering,  and  it  finally  became 
difficult  for  us  to  keep  on  the  main  trail.  When  darkness  set  in, 
we  went  into  camp,  it  being  useless  to  try  to  follow  the  Indians 
after  nightfall. 

Next  morning  we  were  again  on  the  trail,  which  led  north  and 
back  towards  Beaver  creek,  which  stream  it  crossed  within  a 
few  miles  of  the  spot  where  we  had  first  discovered  the  Indians, 
they  having  made  nearly  a  complete  circle,  in  hopes  of  mislead- 
ing us.  Late  in  the  afternoon,  we  again  saw  them  going  over  a 
hill  far  ahead  of  us,  and  towards  evening  the  main  body  of  war- 
riors came  back  and  fought  us  once  more ;  but  we  continued  to 
drive  them  until  darkness  set  in,  when  we  camped  for  the  night. 

The  Indians  soon  scattered  in  every  direction,  but  we  followed 
the  main  trail  to  the  Republican  river,  where  we  made  a  cut-off, 
and  then  went  north  towards  the  Platte  river.  We  found,  how- 
ever, that  the  Indians  by  traveling  night  and  day  had  got  a  long 
start,  and  the  General  concluded  that  it  was  useless  to  follow 
them  any  further,  as  we  had  pushed  them  so  hard,  and  given 
them  such  a  scare  that  they  would  leave  the  Republican  country 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  543 

and  go  north  across  the  Union  Pacific  railroad.  Most  of  the  In- 
dians, as  he  had  predicted,  did  cross  the  Platte  river,  near 
Ogalalla,  on  the  Union  Pacific,  and  thence  continued  northward. 
That  night  we  returned  to  the  Republican  river  and  camped  in 
a  grove  of  cottonwoods,  which  I  named  Carr's  Grove,  in  honor  of 
the  commanding  officer. 

OUT   IN  A    DRY   COUNTRY. 

The  General  told  me  that  the  next  day's  march  would  be 
towards  the  head-waters  of  the  Beaver,  and  he  asked  me  the  dis- 
tance. I  replied  that  it  was  about  twenty-five  miles,  and  he  said 
he  would  make  it  the  next  day.  Getting  an  early  start  in  the 
morning,  we  struck  out  across  the  prairie,  my  position  as  guide 
being  ahead  of  the  advance  guard.  About  two  o'clock  General 
Carr  overtook  me,  and  asked  how  far  I  supposed  it  was  to  water. 
I  thought  it  was  about  eight  miles,  although  we  could  see  no 
sign  or  indication  of  any  stream  in  our  front. 

"  Pepoon's  scouts  say  you  are  going  in  the  wrong  direction," 
said  the  General,  "  and  in  the  way  you  are  bearing  it  will  be  fif- 
teen miles  before  you  can  strike  any  of  the  branches  of  the 
Beaver;  and  that  when  you  do,  you  will  find  no  water,  for  the 
ivers  are  dry  at  this  time  of  the  year  at  that  point." 

"  General,  I  think  the  scouts  are  mistaken,"  said  I,  "  for  the 
iver  has  more  water  near  its  head  than  it  has  below ;  and  at 

ie  place  where  we  will  strike  the  stream  we  will  find  immense 

javer  dams,  large  enough  and  strong  enough  to  cross  the  whole 

>mmand,  if  you  wish." 

"  Well,  Cody,  go  ahead,"  said  he,  "I'll  leave  it  to  you,  but 
remember  that  I  don't  want  a  dry  camp." 

"  No  danger  of  that,"  said  I,  and  then  I  rode  on,  leaving  him 
to  return  to  the  command.  As  I  had  predicted,  we  found  water 
seven  or  eight  miles  further  on,  where  we  came  upon  a  beautiful 
little  stream  —  a  tributary  of  the  Beaver  —  hidden  in  the  hills' 
We  had  no  difficulty  in  selecting  a  good  halting  place,  and  obtain- 
ing fresh  spring  water  and  excellent  grass.  The  General,  upon 
learning  from  me  that  the  stream  —  which  was  only  eight  or  nine 


544  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

miles  long  —  had  no  name,  took  out  his  map  and  located  it,  and 
named  it  Cody's  creek,  which  name  it  still  bears. 

SURPRISED    BY   INDIANS. 

We  pulled  out  early  next  morning  for  the  Beaver,  and  when 
we  were  approaching  the  stream  I  rode  on  ahead  of  the  advance 
guard,  in  order  to  find  a  crossing.  Just  as  I  turned  a  bend  of 
the  creek  ' «  bang !  ' '  went  a  shot,  and  down  went  my  horse  —  my- 
self with  him.  I  disentangled  myself,  and  jumped  behind  the 
dead  body.  Looking  in  the  direction  whence  the  shot  had 
come  I  saw  two  Indians,  and  at  once  turned  my  gun  loose  on 
them,  but  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment  I  missed  my  aim. 
They  fired  two  or  three  more  shots,  and  I  returned  the  compli- 
ment, wounding  one  of  their  horses. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  going  over  the  hill,  I  ol 
served  a  few  lodges  moving  rapidly  away,  and  also  some  mounted 
warriors,  who  could  see  me,  and  who  kept  blazing  away  with 
their  guns.  The  two  Indians  who  had  fired  at  me  and  had  killed 
my  horse  were  retreating  across  the  creek  on  a  beaver-dam.  I 
sent  a  few  shots  after  them  to  accelerate  their  speed,  and  also 
fired  at  the  ones  on  the  ether  side  of  the  stream.  I  was  unde- 
cided as  to  whether  it  was  best  to  run  back  to  the  command  on 
foot  or  hold  my  position.  I  knew  that  within  a  few  minutes  the 
troops  would  come  up,  and  I  therefore  decided  to  hold  my  position. 
The  Indians,  seeing  that  I  was  alone,  turned  and  charged  down 
the  hill,  and  were  about  to  re-cross  the  creek  to  corral  me,  when 
the  advance  guard  of  the  command  put  in  an  appearance  on  the 
ridge,  and  dashed  forward  to  my  rescue.  The  red-skins  whirled 
and  made  off. 

When  General  Carr  came  up,  he  ordered  Company  I  to  go  in 
pursuit  of  the  band.  I  accompanied  Lieutenant  Brady,  who 
commanded,  and  we  had  a  running  fight  with  the  Indians,  lasting 
several  hours.  We  captured  several  head  of  their  horses  and 
most  of  their  lodges.  At  night  we  returned  to  the  command, 
which  by  this  time  had  crossed  the  creek  on  the  beaver-dam. 

We  scouted  for  several  days  along  the  river,  and  had  two  or 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


545 


three  lively  skirmishes.     Finally  our  supplies  began  to  run  low, 
id  General  Carrgave  orders  to  return  to  Fort  Wallace,  which  we 
?hed  three  days  afterwards,  and  where  we  remained  several  days, 
tile  the  regiment  was  waiting  here  for  orders,  I  spent  most 
>f  the  time  in  hunting  buffaloes,  and  one  day,  while  I  was  out 
a  small  party,  we  were  "  jumped  "  by  about  fifty  Indians. 
re  had  a  severe  fight  for  at  least  an  hour,  when  we  succeeded  in 
:iving  the  enemy.     They  lost  four  of  their  warriors,  and  proba- 


FLIGHT   OF    THE   INDIANS. 


Bly  concluded  that  we  were  a  hard  crowd.  I  had  some  excenent 
marksmen  with  me,  and  they  did  some  fine  work,  sending  the 
bullets  thick  and  fast  where  they  would  do  the  most  good.  Two 
or  three  of  our  horses  had  been  hit,  and  one  man  had  been 
wounded  ;  we  were  ready  and  willing  to  stay  with  the  red- skins 
as  long  as  they  wished  — but  they  finally  gave  it  up,  however,  as 
a  bad  job,  and  rode  off.  We  finished  our  hunt,  and  went  back  to 
the  post  loaded  down  'with  buffalo  meat,  and  received  the  com- 
pliment of  the  General  for  our  little  fight. 


35 


546' 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTEE    XII. 
A  HARD  WINTER'S  CAMPAIGN. 

ERY  soon  after  our  fight  on  Beaver  creek, 
Gen.  Carr  received  orders  from  Gen. 
Sheridan  for  a  winter's  campaign  '  in 
the  Canadian  river  country,  instructing 
him  to  proceed  at  once  to  Fort  Lyon, 
Colorado,  and  thereto  fit  out  for  the  ex- 
pedition. Leaving  Fort  Wallace  in  No- 
vember, 1868,  we  arrived  at  Fort  Lyon 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  month  without 
special  incident,  and  at  once  began  our 
preparations  for  invading  the  enemy 'a 
country. 

General  Penrose  had  left  this  post  three 
weeks  previously  with  a  command  of 
some  three  hundred  men.  He  had  taken  no  wagons  with  him 
and  his  supply  train  was  composed  only  of  pack  mules.  General 
Carr  was  ordered  to  follow  with  supplies  on  his  trail  and  over- 
take him  as  soon  as  possible.  I  was  particularly  anxious  to 
catch  up  with  Penrose' s  command,  as  my  old  friend,  Wild  Bill, 
was  among  his  scouts.  We  followed  the  trail  very  easily  for  the 
first  three  days,  and  then  we  were  caught  in  Freeze-Out  canyon 
by  a  fearful  snow  storm,  which  compelled  us  to  go  into  camp  for 
a  day.  The  ground  now  being  covered  with  snow,  we  found  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  follow  Penrose' s  trail  any  further, 
especially  as  he  had  left  no  sign  to  indicate  the  direction  he  was 
going.  General  Carr  pent  for  me  and  said  that  as  it  was  very 
important  that  we  should  not  lose  the  trail,  he  wished  that  I 
would  take  some  scouts  with  me,  and  while  the  command  re- 
mained in  camp,  push  on  as  far  as  possible  and  see  if  I  could  not 
discover  some  traces  of  Penrose  or  where  he  had  camped  at  any 
time. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  547 

Accompanied  by  four  men  I  started  out  in  the  blinding  snow 
storm,  taking  a  southerly  direction.  We  rode  twenty-four  miles, 
and  upon  reaching  a  tributary  of  the  Cimarron,  we  scouted  up 
and  down  the  stream  for  a  few  miles  and  finally  found  one  of 
Penrose' s  old  camps.  It  was  now  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  as 
the  command  would  come  up  the  next  day,  it  was  not  necessary 
for  all  of  us  to  return  with  the  information  to  General  Carr. 
So  riding  down  into  a  sheltered  place  in  a  bend  of  the  creek,'  we 
built  a  fire  and  broiled  some  venison  from  a  deer  which  we  had 
3hot  during  the  day,  and  after  eating  a  substantial  meal  I  left 
tjie  four  men  there,  while  I  returned  to  bring  up  the  troops. 

It  was  eleven  o'clock  at  night  when  I  got  back  to  the  camp. 
A.  light  was  still  burning  in  the  General's  tent,  he  having  re- 
mained awake,  anxiously  awaiting  my  return.  He  was  glad  to 
see  me,  and  was  overjoyed  at  the  information  I  brought,  for  he 
he  had  great  fears  concerning  the  safety  of  General  Penrose. 
He  roused  up  his  cook  and  ordered  him  to  get  me  a  good  hot 
supper,  all  of  which  I  greatly  appreciated.  I  passed  the  night 
in  the  General's  tent,  and  next  morning  rose  refreshed  and  pre- 
pared for  a  big  day's  work. 

A  ROUGH  MARCH. 

The  command  took  up  its  march  next  day  for  the  Cimarron, 
and  had  a  hard  tramp  of  it  on  account  of  the  snow  having  drifted 
to  a  great  depth  in  many  of  the  ravines,  and  in  some  places  the 
teamsters  had  to  shovel  their  way  through.  We  arrived  at  the 
Cimarron  at  sundown,  and  went  into  a  nice  warm  camp.  Upon 
looking  around  next  morning,  we  found  that  Penrose,  having  been 
unencumbered  by  wagons,  had  kept  en  the  west  side  of  the  Cim- 
arron, and  the  country  was  so  rough  that  it  was  impossible  for 
us  to  stay  on  his  trail  with  our  wagons ;  but  knowing  that  he 
would  certainly  follow  down  the  river,  General  Carr  concluded 
to  take  the  best  wagon  route  along  the  stream,  which  I  discov- 
ered to  be  on  the  east  side.  Before  we  could  make  any  headway 
with  our  wagon  train  we  had  to  leave  the  river  and  get  out  on  the 
divide.  We  were  very  fortunate  that  day  in  finding  a  splendid 


STORY^  OF  tHB   WILD  WEST. 

road  for  some  distance,  until  we  were  all  at  once  brought  up  stand- 
ing on  a  high  table-land,  overlooking  a  beautiful  winding  creek 
that  lay  far  below  us  in  the  valley.  The  question  that  troubled 
us  was  how  we  were  to  get  the  wagons  down.  We  were  now 
in  the  foot-hills  of  the  Rattoon  mountains,  and  the  bluff  we  were 
on  was  very  steep. 

"  Cody,  we're  in  a  nice  fix  now,"  said  General  Carr. 

44  Oh,  that's  nothing,"  was  my  reply. 

"  But  you  can  never  take  the  train  down,"  said  he. 

"  Never  you  mind  the  train,  General.  You  say  you  are  look- 
ing for  a  good  camp.  How  does  that  beautiful  spot  down  in  the 
valley  suit  you?"  J  asked  him. 

"  That  will  do.  I  can  easily  descend  with  the  cavalry,  but  how 
to  get  the  wagons  down  there  is  a  puzzler  to  me,"  said  he. 

"  By  the  time  you've  located  your  camp,  your  wagons  shall  be 
there,"  said  I. 

"  All  right,  Cody,  I'll  leave  it  to  you,  as  you  seem  to  want  to 
be  boss,"  he  replied  pleasantly.  He  at  once  ordered  the  com- 
mand to  dismount  and  lead  the  horses  down  the  mountain-side. 
The  wagon  train  was  a  mile  in  the  rear,  and  when  it  came  up,  one 
of  the  drivers  asked:  ««  How  are  we  going  down  there?" 

"  Run  down,  slide  down  or  fall  down  —  any  way  to  get  down," 
said  I. 

"  We  never  can  do  it;  it's  too  steep;  the  wagons  will  run  over 
the  mules,"  said  another  wagon-master. 

"  I  guess  not;  the  mules  have  got  to  keep  out  of  the  way," 
was  my  reply. 

I  told  Wilson,  the  chief  wagon-master,  to  bring  on  his  mess- 
wagon,  which  was  at  the  head  of  the  train,  and  I  would  try  the 
experiment  at  least.  Wilson  drove  the  team  and  wagon  to  the 
brink  of  the  hill,  and  folio  wing  my  directions  he  brought  out  some 
extra  chains  with  which  we  locked  both  wheels  on  each  side,  and 
then  rough-locked  them.  We  now  started  the  wagon  down  the 
hill.  The  wheel-horses  —  or  rather  the  wheel-mules —  were  good 
on  the  hold-back,  and  we  got  along  finely  until  we  nearly  reached 
the  bottom,  when  the  wagon  crowded  the  mules  so  hard  that  they 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  «549 

started  on  a  run  and  galloped  down  into  the  valley  and  to  the 
place  where  General  Carr  had  located  his  camp.  Three  other 
wagons  immediately  followed  in  the  same  way,  and  in  half  an 
hour  every  wagon  was  in  camp,  without  the  least  accident  having 
occurred.  It  was  indeed  an  exciting  sight  to  see  the  six-mule 
teams  come  straight  down  the  mountain  and  finally  break  into  a 
full  run.  At  times  it  looked  as  if  the  wagons  would  turn  a 
somersault  and  land  on  the  mules. 

This  proved  to  be  a  lucky  march  for  us,  as  far  as  gaining  on 
Penrose  was  concerned,  for  the  route  he  had  taken  on  the  west 
side  of  the  stream  turned  out  to  be  a  bad  one,  and  we  went  with 
our  immense  wagon-train  as  far  in  one  day  as  Penrose  had  in 
se^en.  His  command  had  marched  on  to  a  plateau  or  high  table- 
land so  steep  that  not  even  a  pack-mule  could  descend  it,  and  he 
was  obliged  to  retrace  his  steps  a  long  ways,  thus  losing  three 
days'  time,  as  we  afterwards  learned. 

A    TURKEY   HUNT    WITH    CLUBS. 

While  in  this  camp  we  had  a  lively  turkey  hunt.  The  trees 
along  the  banks  of  the  stream  were  literally  alive  with  wild 
turkeys,  and  after  unsaddling  the  horses  between  two  and  three 
hundred  soldiers  surrounded  a  grove  of  timber  and  had  a  grand 
turkey  round-up,  killing  four  or  five  hundred  of  the  birds,  with 
guns,  clubs  and  stones.  Of  course,  we  had  turkey  in  every  style 
after  this  hunt — roast  turkey,  boiled  turkey,  fried  turkey, 
"  turkey  on  toast,"  and  so  on;  and  we  appropriately  called  this 
place  Camp  Turkey. ' 

From  this  point  on,  for  several  days,  we  had  no  trouble  in 
following  Penrose' s  trail,  which  led  us  in  a  southeasterly  direction 
towards  the  Canadian  river.  No  Indians  were  seen  nor  any  signs 
of  them  found.  One  day,  while  riding  in  advance  of  the  com- 
mand, down  San  Francisco  creek,  I  heard  some  one  calling  my 
name  from  a  little  bunch  of  willow  brush  on  the  opposite  bank, 
and,  upon  looking  closely  at  the  spot,  I  saw  a  negro. 

"  Sakes  alive  I  MassaBill,  am  dat  you?  "  asked  the  man,  whom 
I  recognized  as  one  of  the  colored  soldiers  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry. 


550  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

I  next  heard  him  say  to  some  one  in  the  brush:  "  Came  out  oj 
heah.  Dar's  Massa  Buffalo  Bill."  Then  he  sang  out:  «'  Massa 
Bill,  is  you  got  any  hawd  tack?  " 

"  Nary  a  hardtack;  but  the  wagons  will  be  along  presently 
and  then  you  can  get  all  you  want,"  said  I. 

"  Dat's  de  best  news  I'se  heerd  foah  sixteen  long  days,  Massa 
Bill,"  said  he. 

"  Where's  your  command?  Where's  General  Penrose?"  I  asked. 

"  I  dunno,"  said  the  darkey;  "  we  got  lost  and  we's  been  a 
starvin'  eber  since." 

By  this  time  two  other  negroes  had  emerged  from  their  place 
of  concealment.  They  had  deserted  Penrose' s  command — which 
was  out  of  rations  and  nearly  in  a  starving  condition  —  and  were 
trying  to  make  their  way  back  to  Fort  Lyon.  General  Carr 
concluded,  from  what  they  could  tell  him,  that  General  Penrose 
was  somewhere  on  Palladora  creek ;  but  we  could  not  learn  any- 
thing definite  from  the  starved  "mokes,"  for  they  knew  not 
where  they  were  themselves. 

RESCUE   OF   A   STARVING    COMMAND. 

Having  learned  that  General  Penrose' s  troops  were  in  such  bad 
shape,  General  Carr  ordered  Major  Brown  to  start  out  the  next 
morning  with  two  companies  of  cavalry  and  fifty  pack-mules 
loaded  with  provisions,  and  to  make  all  possible  speed  to  reach 
and  relieve  the  suffering  soldiers.  I  accompanied  this  detach- 
ment, and  on  the  third  day  out  we  found  the  half -famished 
soldiers  camped  on  the  Palladora.  The  camp  presented  a  pitiful 
sight,  indeed.  For  over  two  weeks  the  men  had  had  only  quarter 
rations  and  were  now  nearly  starved  to  death.  Over  two  hundred 
horses  and  mules  were  lying  dead,  having  died  from  fatigue 
and  starvation.  General  Penrose,  fearing  that  General  Carr 
would  not  find  him,  had  sent  back  a  company  of  the  Seventh 
Cavalry  to  Fort  Lyon  for  supplies ;  but  no  word  as  yet  had  been 
heard  from  them.  The  rations  which  Major  Brown  brought  to 
the  command  came  none  too  soon  and  were  the  means  of  saving 
many  lives. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


551 


About  the  first  man  I  saw  after  reaching  the  camp  was  my  old, 
true  and  tried  fnend,  Wild  Bill.  That  night  we  had  a  jollv  re- 
union around  the  camp-fires. 

General  Carr,  upon  arriving  with  his  force,  took  command  of 
all  the  troops,  he  being  the  senior  officer  and  ranking  General 
Penrose.  After  selecting  a  good  camp,  he  unloaded  the  wagons 
and  sent  them  back  to  Fort  Lyon  for  fresh  supplies.  He  ther 


I  pi 

u: 


DISCOVERY  OP  PENROSE' s  STARVING  COMMAND. 

picked  out  five  hundred  of  the  best  men  and  horses,  and,  taking 
his  pack-train  with  him,  he  started  south  for  the  Canadian  river, 
distant  about  forty  miles,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  troops  at  the 
supply  camp. 

SUCCESSFUL   RAID  ON  A  BEER  TRAIN. 

was  ordered  to  accompany  this  expedition.     We  struck  the 
south  fork  of  the  Canadian  river,  or  Rio  Colorado,  at  a  point  a 


552  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

few  miles  above  the  old  adobe  walls,  which  at  one  time  had  com- 
posed a  fort,  and  was  the  place  where  Kit  Carson  once  had  a  big 
Indian  fight.  We  were  now  within  twelve  miles  of  a  new  sup- 
ply depot,  called  Camp  Evans,  which  had  been  established  for 
the  Third  Cavalry  and  Evans'  Expedition  from  New  Mexico. 
The  scouts  who  had  brought  in  this  information  also  reported 
that  they  expected  the  arrival  at  Camp  Evans  of  a  bull-train 
from  New  Mexico  with  a  large  quantity  of  beer  for  the  soldiers. 
This  news  was  grateful  to  Wild  Bill  and  myself,  and  we  deter- 
mined to  lie  low  for  that  beer  outfit.  That  very  evening  it  came 
along,  and  the  beer  that  was  destined  for  the  soldiers  at  Camp 
Evans  never  reached  its  destination.  It  went  straight  down 
the  thirsty  throats  of  General  Carr's  command.  It  appears 
that  the  Mexicans  living  near  Fort  Union  had  manufactured 
the  beer,  and  were  taking  it  through  to  Camp  Evans  to  sell 
to  the  troops,  but  it  struck  a  lively  market  without  going  so 
far.  It  was  sold  to  our  boys  in  pint  cups,  and  as  the  weather 
was  very  cold  we  warmed  the  beer  by  putting  the  ends  of  our 
picket-pins  heated  red  hot  into  the  cups.  The  result  was  one 
of  the  biggest  beer  jollifications  I  ever  had  the  misfortune  to 
attend. 

One  evening  General  Carr  summoned  me  to  his  tent,  and  said 
he  wished  to  send  some  scouts  with  dispatches  to  Camp  Supply, 
which  were  to  be  forwarded  from  there  to  Sheridan.  He  ordered 
me  to  call  the  scouts  together  at  once  at  his  headquarters,  and  se- 
lect the  men  who  were  to  go.  I  asked  him  if  I  should  not  go 
myself,  but  he  replied  that  he  wished  me  to  remain  with  the  com- 
mand, as  he  could  not  spare  me.  The  distance  to  Camp  Supply 
was  about  two  hundred  miles,  and  owing  to  the  very  cold  weather 
it  was  anything  but  a  pleasant  trip.  Consequently  none  of  the 
scouts  were  anxious  to  undertake  it.  It  was  finally  settled,  how- 
ever, that  Wild  Bill,  a  half-breed  called  Little  Geary,  and  three 
other  scouts  should  carry  the  dispatches,  and  they  accordingly 
took  their  departure  next  day,  with  instructions  to  return  to  the 
command  as  soon  as  possible. 

For  several  days  we  scouted  along  the  Canadian  river,  but 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  553 

found  no  signs  of  Indians.  General  Carr  then  went  back  to  his 
camp,  and  soon  afterwards  our  wagon  train  came  in  from  Fort 
Lyon  wi,th  a  fresh  load  of  provisions.  Our  animals  being  in  poor 
condition,  we  remained  in  different  camps  along  San  Francisco 
Creek  and  the  north  fork  of  the  Canadian  until  Wild  Bill  and 
his  scouts  returned  from  Camp  Supply. 

A   FREE   FIGHT   AMONG  THE  SCOUTS. 

Among  the  scouts  of  Penrose's  command  were  fifteen  Mexi- 
cans, and  between  them  and  the  American  scouts  there  had  ex- 
isted a  feud ;  when  General  Carr  took  command  of  the  expedi- 
tions —  uniting  it  with  his  own  —  and  I  was  made  chief  of  all  the 
scouts,  this  feud  grew  more  intense,  and  the  Mexicans  often 
threatened  to  clean  us  out ;  but  they  postponed  the  undertaking 
from  time  to  time,  until  one  day,  while  we  were  all  at  the  sutler's 
store,  the  long-expected  fight  took  place,  and  resulted  in  the 
Mexicans  getting  severely  beaten. 

General  Carr  upon  hearing  of  the  row,  sent  for  Wild  Bill  and  my- 
self, he  having  concluded,  from  the  various  statements  which  had 
been  made  to  him,  that  we  were  the  instigators  of  the  affair. 
But  after  listening  to  what  we  had  to  say,  he  thought  that  the 
Mexicans  were  as  much  to  blame  as  we  were. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  Wild  Bill  and  myself  had  been  par- 
taking too  freely  of  "  tangle  -foot "  that  evening;  and  Gen- 
eral Carr  said  to  me:  "  Cody,  there  are  plenty  of  antelopes  in 
the  country,  and  you  cap  do  some  hunting  for  the  camp  while  we 
stay  here." 

"All  right,  General,  I'll  do  it." 

After  that  I  put  in  my  time  hunting,  and  with  splendid  success, 
killing  from  fifteen  to  twenty  antelopes  a  day,  which  kept  the 
men  well  supplied  with  fresh  meat. 

At  length,  our  horses  and  mules  having  become  sufficiently  re- 
cruited to  travel,  we  returned  to  Fort  Lyon,  arriving  there  in 
March,  1869,  where  the  command  was  to  rest  and  recruit  for  thir- 
ty days,  before  proceeding  to  the  Department  of  the  Platte, 
whither  it  had  been  ordered. 


554  STOEY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

CHAPTEE    XHL 

I  AM  ACCUSED  OF  SELLING  GOVERNMENT  PROPERTY. 

PON  my  return  to  Fort  Lyon  General  Carr 
granted  me  a  leave  of  absence  of  one  month 
which  I  improved  by  paying  a  visit  to  my 
family  which  was  at  this  time  in  St.  Louis. 
The  nearest  railroad  station  to  Fort  Lyon  was 
Sheridan,  fully  one  hundred  and  forty  miles 
distant,  and  as  I  had  no  conveyance  of  my 
own,  General  Carr  instructed  Captain  Hays, 
our  quartermaster,  to  give  me  the  use  of  a 
horse  to  make  the  necessary  journey.  When  I 
received  the  horse  it  was  with  instructions  to  leave  the  animal  in 
the  quartermaster's  corral  at  Fort  Wallace  until  my  return,  but 
instead  of  so  doing  I  placed  the  horse  in  the  care  of  an  old  friend 
named  Perry,  who  was  a  hotel-keeper  in  Sheridan. 

After  a  twenty  days'  absence  in  St.  Louis,  pleasantly  spent 
with  my  family,  I  returned  to  Sheridan,  and  there  learned  that 
my  horse  had  been  seized  by  the  government.  It  seems  that  the 
quartermaster's  agent  at  Sheridan  had  reported  to  General  Bank- 
head,  commanding  Fort  Wallace,  and  to  Captain  Laufer,  the 
quartermaster,  that  I  had  left  the  country  and  had  sold  a  govern- 
ment horse  and  mule  to  Mr.  Perry,  and  of  course  Captain  Laufer 
took  possession  of  the  animals  and  threatened  to  have  Perry  ar- 
rested for  buying  government  property.  Perry  explained  to  him 
the  facts  in  the  case  and  said  that  I  would  return  in  a  few  days ; 
but  the  Captain  would  pay  no  attention  to  his  statements. 

I  immediately  went  over  to  the  office  of  the  quartermaster's 
agent,  and  had  Perry  point  him  out  to  me.  I  at  once  laid  hold 
of  him,  and  in  a  short  time  had  treated  him  to  just  such  a 
thrashing  as  his  contemptible  lie  deserved.  He  then  mounted  a 
horse,  rode  to  Fcrt  Wallace,  and  reported  me  to  General  Bank- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  555 

head  and  Captain  Laufer,  and  obtained  a  guard  to  return  with 
and  protect  him. 

The  next  morning  I  secured  a  horse  from  Perry,  and  proceed- 
ing to  Fort  Wallace  demanded  my  horse  and  mule  from  General 
Bankhead,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  Quartermaster  Hays' 
property  and  belonged  to  General  Carr's  command  and  that  I  had 
obtained  permission  to  ride  them  to  Sheridan  and  back.  Gener- 
al Bankhead  in  a  gruff  manner  ordered  me  out  of  his  office  and 
off  the  reservation,  saying  that  if  I  didn't  take  a  hurried  depar- 
ture he  would  have  me  forcibly  put  out.  I  told  him  to  do  it  and 
be  hanged  ;  I  might  have  used  a  stronger  expression,  and  upon 
second  thought,  I  believe  I  did.  I  next  interviewed  Captain 
Laufer  and  demanded  of  him  also  the  horse  and  mule,  as  I  was 
responsible  for  them  to  Quartermaster  Hays.  Captain  Laufer 
intimated  that  I  was  a  liar  and  that  I  had  disposed  of  the  ani- 
mals. Hot  words  ensued  between  us,  and  he  too  ordered  me  to 
leave  the  post.  I  replied  that  General  Bankhead  had  commanded 
me  to  do  the  same  thing,  but  that  I  had  not  yet  gone ;  and  that  I 
did  not  propose  to  obey  any  orders  of  an  inferior  officer. 

Seeing  that  it  was  of  no  use  to  make  any  further  effort  to  get 
possession  of  the  animals  I  rode  back  to  Sheridan,  and  just  as  I 
reached  there  I  met  the  quartermaster's  agent  coming  out  from 
supper,  with  his  head  tied  up.  It  occurred  to  me  that  he  had  not 
received  more  than  one-half  of  the  punishment  justly  due  him, 
and  that  now  would  be  a  good  time  to  give  him  the  balance — 
so  I  carried  the  idea  into  immediate  execution.  After  finishing 
the  job  in  good  style,  I  informed  him  that  he  could  not  stay  in 
that  town  while  I  remained  there,  and  convinced  him  that  Sheri- 
dan was  not  large  enough  to  hold  us  both  at  the  same  time ;  he 
accordingly  left  the  place  and  again  went  to  Fort  Wallace,  this 
time  reporting  to  General  Bankhead  that  I  had  driven  him  away, 
and  had  threatened  to  kill  him. 

ARRESTED    AND    THROWN    INTO    THE  GUARD-HOUSE. 

That  night  while  sleeping  at  the  Perry  House,  I  was  awakened 
by  a  tap  on  the  shoulder  and  upon  looking  up  I  was  considerably 


556  STOEY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

surprised  to  seethe  room  filled  with  armed  negroes  who  had  theii 
guns  all  pointed  at  me.  The  first  words  I  heard  came  from  the 
sergeant,  who  said:  — 

"Now  look  a-heah,  Massa  Bill,  ef  you  makes  a  move  we'll 
blow  you  off  de  farm,  shuah!  "  Just  then  Captain  Ezekiel  en- 
tered and  ordered  the  soldiers  to  stand  back. 

"  Captain,  what  does  this  mean?  '*  I  asked. 

"I  am  sorry,  Bill,  but  1  have  been  ordered  by  General 
Bankhead  to  arrest  you  and  bring  you  to  Fort  Wallace,"  said  he. 

"  That's  all  right,"  said  I,  "  but  you  could  have  made  the  ar- 
rest alone,  without  having  brought  the  whole  Thirty- eighth  In- 
fantry with  you." 

"  I  know  that,  Bill,"  replied  the  Captain,  ««  but  as  you've  not 
been  in  very  good  humor  for  the  last  day  or  two,  I  didn't  knew 
how  you  would  act." 

I  hastily  dressed,'  and  accompanied  Captain  Ezekiel  to  Fort 
Wallace,  arriving  there  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

"  Bill,  I  am  really  sorry,"  said  Captain  Ezekiel,  as  we 
alighted,  "but  I  have  orders  to  place  you  in  the  guard-house, 
and  I  must  perform  my  duty." 

«'  Very  well,  Captain  ;  I  don't  blame  you  a  bit,"  said  I;  and 
into  the  guard-house  I  went  as  a  prisoner  for  the  first  and  only 
time  in  my  life.  The  sergeant  of  the  guard  —  who  was  an  old 
friend  of  mine,  belonging  to  Captain  Graham's  company,  which 
was  stationed  there  at  the  time  —  did  not  put  me  into  a  cell,  but 
kindly  allowed  me  to  stay  in  his  rocm  and  occupy  his  bed,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  I  was  snoring  away  as  if  nothing  unusual  had  oc- 
curred. 

Shortly  after  reveille  Captain  Graham  called  to  see  me.  He 
thought  it  was  a  shame  for  me  to  be  in  the  guard-house,  and  said 
that  he  would  interview  General  Bankhead  in  my  behalf  as  soon 
as  he  got  up.  The  Captain  had  a  nice  breakfast  prepared  for  me, 
and  then  departed.  At  guard-mount  I  was  not  sent  for,  con- 
trary to  my  expectations,  and  thereupon  I  had  word  conveyed  to 
Captain  Graham,  who  was  officer  of  the  day,  that  I  wanted  to 
see  General  Bankhead.  The  Captain  informed  me  that 


ACTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  557 

eral  absolutely  refused  to  hold  any  conversation  whatever  with 
me. 

At  this  time  there  was  no  telegraph  line  between  Fort  Wallace 
and  Fort  Lyon,  and  therefore  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  tele- 
graph to  General  Carr,  and  I  determined  to  send  a  dispatch  di- 
rect to  General  Sheridan.  I  accordingly  wrote  out  a  long  tele- 
gram informing  him  of  my  difficulty,  and  had  it  taken  to  the 
telegraph  office  for  transmission;  but  the  operator,  instead  of 
sending  it  at  once  as  he  should  have  done,  showed  it  to  General 
Bankhead,  who  tore  it  up,  and  instructed  the  operator  not  to  pay 
any  attention  to  what  I  might  say,  as  he  was  running  that  post. 
Thinking  it  very  strange  that  I  received  no  answer  during  the  day 
I  went  to  the  telegraph  office,  accompanied  by  a  guard,  and 
learned  from  the  operator  what  he  had  done. 

A    DISPUTE   OVER   A  TELEGRAM. 

"  See  here,  my  young  friend,"  said  I,  "  this  is  a  public  tele- 
graph line,  and  I  want  my  telegram  sent,  or  there'll  be  trouble." 

I  re-wrote  my  dispatch  and  handed  it  to  him,  accompanied  with 
the  money  to  pay  for  the  transmission,  saying,  as  I  did  so: 
"  Young  man,  I  wish  that  telegram  sent  direct  to  Chicago.  You 
know  it  is  your  duty  to  send  it,  and  it  must  go." 

He  knew  very  well  that  he  was  compelled  to  transmit  the  mes- 
sage, but  before  doing  so  he  called  on  General  Bankhead  and  in- 
formed him  of  what  I  had  said,  and  told  him  that  he  would 
certainly  have  to  send  it,  for  if  he  didn't  he  might  lose  his  posi- 
tion. The  General,  seeing  that  the  telegram  would  have  to  go, 
summoned  me  to  his  headquarters,  and  the  first  thing  he  said,  after 
I  got  into  his  presence  was :  — 

"  If  I  let  you  go, 'sir,  will  you  leave  the  post  at  once  and  not 
bother  my  agent  at  Sheridan  again  ? ' ' 

"  No,  sir  ;  "  I  replied,  "  I'll  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  I'll  re- 
main in  the  guard-house  until  I  receive  an  answer  from  General 
Sheridan." 

"  If  I  give  you  the  horse  and  mule  will  you  proceed  at  once  to 
Fort  Lyon?" 


558  STORY  OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

"No,  sir;  I  have  some  bills  to  settle  at  Sheridan  and  some 
other  business  to  transact,"  replied  I. 

"  Well,  sir;  will  you  at  least  agree  not  to  interfere  any  fur- 
ther with  the  quartermaster's  agent  at  Sheridan?" 

"  I  shall  not  bother  him  any  more,  sir,  as  I  have  had  all  I 
want  from  him,"  was  my  answer. 

General  Bankhead  thereupon  -sent  for  Captain  Laufer  and 
ordered  him  to  turn  the  horse  and  mule  over  to  me.  In  a  few 
minutes  more  I  was  on  my  way  to  Sheridan,  and  after  settling 
my  business  there,  I  proceeded  to  FortLyon,  arriving  two  days 
afterwards.  I  related  my  adventures  to  General  Carr,  Major 
Brown,  and  other  officers,  who  were  greatly  amused  thereby. 

IN  PURSUIT  OF  HORSE  THIEVES. 

"  I'm  glad  you've  come,  Bill,"  said  Genera]  Carr,  "  as  I  have 
been  wanting  you  for  the  last  two  weeks.  While  we  have  been 
at  this  post  several  valuable  animals,  as  well  as  a  large  number 
of  government  horses  and  mules  have  been  stolen,  and  we  think 
the  thieves  are  still  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fort,  but  as  yet  we  have 
been  unable  to  discover  their  rendezvous,  I  have  had  a  party 
out  for  the  last  few  days  in  the  neighborhood  of  old  Fort  Lyon, 
and  they  have  found  fresh  tracks  down  there  and  seem  to  think 
that  the  stock  is  concealed  somewhere  in  the  timber,  along  the 
Arkansas  river.  Bill  Green,  one  of  the  scouts  who  is  just 
up  from  there,  can  perhaps  tell  you  something  more  about  the 
matter." 

Green,  who  had  been  summoned,  said  that  he  had  discovered 
fresh  trails  before  striking  the  heavy  timber  opposite  old  Fort 
Lyon,  but  that  in  the  tall  grass  he  could  not  follow  them.  He 
had  marked  the  place  where  he  had  last  seen  fresh  mule  tracks, 
so  that  he  could  find  it  again. 

"  Now,  Cody,  you're  just  the  person  we  want,"  said  the 
General. 

"Very  well,  I'll  get  a  fresh  mount,  and  to-morrow  I'll  go 
down  and  see  what  I  can  discover,"  said  I. 

"  You  had  better  take  two  men  besides  Green,  and  a  pack  mule 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF   BUFFALO  BILL.  559 

with  eight  or  ten  days'  rations,"  suggested  the  General,  "  so 
that  if  you  find  the  trail  you  can  follow  it  up,  as  I  am  very 
anxious  to  get  back  this  stolen  property.  The  scoundrels  have 
taken  one  of  my  private  horses  and  also  Lieutenant  Forbush's 
favorite  little  black  race  mule." 

Next  morning  I  started  out  after  the  horse- thieves,  being  ac- 
companied by  Green,  Jack  Farley  and  another  scout.  The 
mule  track,  marked  by  Green,  was  easily  found,  and  with  very 
little  difficulty  I  followed  it  for  about  two  miles  into  the  timber 
and  came  upon  a  place  where,  as  I  could  plainly  see  from  numer- 
ous signs,  quite  a  number  of  head  of  stock  had  been  tied  among 
the  trees  and  kept  for  several  days.  This  was  evidently  the 
spot  where  the  thieves  had  been  hiding  their  stolen  stock  until 
they  had  accumulated  quite  a  herd.  From  this  point  it  was  dif- 
ficult to  trail  them,  as  they  had  taken  the  stolen  animals  out  of 
the  timber  one  by  one  and  in  different  directions,  thus  showing 
that  they  were  experts  at  the  business  and  experienced  frontiers- 
men, for  no  Indian  could  have  exhibited  more  cunning  in  cover- 
ing up  a  trail  than  did  they. 

I  abandoned  the  idea  of  following  their  trail  in  this  immediate 
locality,  so  calling  my  men  together,  I  told  them  that  we  would 
ride  out  for  about  five  miles  and  make  a  complete  circuit  about 
the  place,  and  in  this  way  we  would  certainly  find  the  trail  on 
which  they  had  moved  out.  While  making  the  circuit  we  discov- 
ered the  tracks  of  twelve  animals  —  four  mules  and  eight 
horses  —  in  the  edge  of  some  sand-hills,  and  from  this  point  we 
had  no  trouble  in  trailing  them  down  the  Arkansas  river,  which 
they  had  crossed  at  Sand  creek,  and  then  had  gone  up  the  latter 
stream,  in  the  direction  of  Denver,  to  which  place  they  were  un- 
doubtedly bound.  When  nearing  Denver  their  trail  became  so 
obscure  that  we  at  last  lost  it ;  but  by  inquiring  of  the  settlers 
along  the  road  which  they  had  taken,  we  occasionally  heard  of 
them. 

THE   THIEVES    RUN   DOWN. 

When  within  four  miles  of  Denver  —  this  was  on  a  Thursday — 
we  learned  that  the  horse- thieves  had  passed  there  two  days  be- 


560  STORY   OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

fore.  I  came  to  the  conclusion  they  would  attempt  to  dispose  of 
the  animals  at  Denver,  and  being  aware  that  Saturday  was  the 
great  auction  day  there,  I  thought  it  best  to  remain  where  we 
were,  at  a  hotel,  and  not  go  into  the  city  until  that  day.  It  cer- 
tainly would  not  have  been  advisable  for  me  to  have  gone  into 
Denver  meantime,  because  I  was  well  known  there,  and  if  the 
thieves  had  learned  of  my  presence  in  the  city  they  would  at  once 
have  suspected  my  business. 

Early  Saturday  morning  we  rode  into  town  and  stabled  our 
horses  at  the  Elephant  corral.  I  secured  a  room  from  Ed.  Chase, 
overlooking  the  corral,  and  then  took  up  my  post  of  observation. 
I  did  not  have  long  to  wait,  for  a  man  whom  I  readily  recognized 
as  one  of  our  old  packers,  rode  into  the  corral  mounted  upon 
Lieutenant  Forbush's  racing  mule,  and  leading  another  govern- 
ment mule,  which  I  also  identified.  It  had  been  recently  branded, 
and  over  the  "  IT.  S.  "  was  a  plain  "  D.  B."  I  waited  for  the 
man's  companion  to  put  in  an  appearance,  but  he  did  not  come, 
and  my  conclusion  was  that  he  was  secreted  outside  of  the  city 
with  the  rest  of  the  animals. 

Presently  the  black  mule  belonging  to  Forbush  was  put  up  at 
auction.  Now,  thought  I,  is  the  time  to  do  my  work.  So,  walk- 
ing through  the  crowd,  who  were  bidding  for  the  mule,  I  ap- 
proached the  man  who  had  offered  him  for  sale.  He  recognized 
me  and  endeavored  to  escape,  but  I  seized  him  by  the  shoulder, 
saying:  "  I  guess,  my  friend,  that  you'll  have  to  go  with  me. 
If  you  make  any  resistance,  I'll  shoot  you  on  the  spot."  He  was 
armed  with  a  pair  of  pistols,  which  I  took  away  from  him.  Then 
informing  the  auctioneer  that  I  was  a  United  States  detective,  and 
showing  him  —  as  well  as  an  inquisitive  officer  —  my  commission 
as  such,  I  told  him  to  stop  the  sale,  as  the  mule  was  stolen  prop- 
erty, and  that  I  had  arrested  the  thief,  whose  name  was  Williams. 

Farley  and  Green,  who  were  near  at  hand,  now  came  forward, 
and  together  we  took  the  prisoner  and  the  mules  three  miles  down 
the  Piatte  river ;  there,  in  a  thick  bunch  of  timber,  we  all  dis- 
mounted and  made  preparations  to  hang  Williams  from  a  limb, 
if  he  did  not  tell  us  where  his  partner  was.  At  first  he  denied 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO  BILL.  561 

knowing  anything  about  any  partner,  or  any  other  stock ;  but 
when  he  saw  that  we  were  in  earnest,  and  would  hang  him  at  the 
end  of  the  given  time  —  five  minutes  —  unless  he  "  squealed,"  he 
told  us  that  his  '*  pal  "  was  at  an  unoccupied  house  three  miles 
further  down  the  river. 

We  immediately  proceeded  to  the  spot  indicated,  and  as  we 
came  within  sight  of  the  house  we  saw  our  stock  grazing  near  by. 
Just  as  we  rode  up  to  the  door,  another  one  of  our  old  packers, 
whom  1  recognized  as  Bill  Bevins,  stepped  to  the  front  and  I 
covered  him  instantly  with  my  rifle  before  he  could  draw  his  re- 
volver. I  ordered  him  to  throw  up  his  hands,  and  he  obeyed 
the  command.  Green  then  disarmed  him  and  brought  him  out. 
We  looked  through  the  house  and  found  their  saddles,  pack-sad- 
dles, blankets,  overcoats,  lariats  and  two  Henry  rifles,  which  we 
took  possession  of.  The  horses  and  mules  we  tied  in  a  bunch, 
and  with  the  whole  outfit  we  returned  to  Denver,  where  we  lodged 
Williams  and  Bevins  in  jail,  in  charge  of  my  friend,  Sheriff  Ed- 
ward Cook.  The  next  day  we  took  them  out,  and  tying  each 
one  on  a  mule  we  struck  out  on  our  return  trip  to  Fort  Lyon. 

ESCAPE    OF    BEVINS. 

At  the  hotel  outside  the  city,  where  we  had  stopped  on  Thurs- 
day and  Friday,  we  were  joined  by  our  man  with  the  pack-mule. 
That  night  we  camped  on  Cherry  creek,  seventeen  miles  from 
Denver.  The  weather —  it  being  in  April  —  was  cold  and  stormy, 
but  we  found  a  warm  and  cosy  camping  place  in  a  bend  of  the 
creek.  We  made  our  beds  in  a  row,  with  our  feet  towards  the 
fire.  The  prisoners  so  far  had  appeared  very  docile,  and  had 
made  no  attempt  to  escape,  and  therefore  I  did  not  think  it  nec- 
essary to  hobble  them.  We  made  them  sleep  on  the  inside,  and  it 
was  so  arranged  that  some  one  of  us  should  be  on  guard  all  the  time. 

At  about  one  o'clock  in  the  night  it  began  snowing,  while  I 
was  watching.  Shortly  before  three  o'clock,  Jack  Farley,  who 
was  then  on  guard,  and  sitting  on  the  foot  of  the  bed,  with  his 
back  to  the  prisoners,  was  kicked  clear  into  the  fire  by  Williams, 
and  the  next  moment  Bevins,  who  had  got  hold  of  his  shoes  — 


562  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

which  I  had  thought  were  out  of  his  reach  —  sprang  up 
jumped  over  the  fire,  and  started  on  a  run.  I  sent  a  shot  after 
him  as  soon  as  I  awoke  sufficiently  to  comprehend  what  was  tak- 
mg  place.  Williams  attempted  to  follow  him,  and  as  he  did  so 
I  whirled  around  and  knocked  him  down  with  my  revolver.  Far- 
ley by  this  time  had  gathered  himself  out  of  the  fire,  and  Green 
had  started  after  Bevins,  firing  at  him  on  the  run ;  but  the  pris- 
oner made  his  escape  into  the  brush.  In  his  flight,  unfortu- 
nately for  him,  and  luckily  for  us,  he  dropped  one  of  his  shoes. 
Leaving  Williams  in  the  charge  of  Farley  and  •"  Long  Doc," 
as  we  called  the  man  with  the  pack- mule,  Green  and  myself 
struck  out  after  Bevins  as  fast  as  possible.  We  heard  him  break- 
ing through  the  brush,  but  knowing  that  it  would  be  useless  to 
follow  him  on  foot,  we  went  back  to  the  camp  and  saddled  up 
two  of  the  fastest  horses,  and  at  daylight  we  struck  out  on  his 
trail,  which  was  plainly  visible  in  the  snow.  He  had  got  an  hour 
and  a  half  the  start  of  us.  His  tracks  led  us  in  the  direction  of 
the  mountains  and  the  South  Platte  river,  and,  as  the  country 
through  which  he  was  passing  was  covered  with  prickly  pears, 
we  knew  that  he  could  not  escape  stepping  on  them  with  his  one 
bare  foot,  and  hence  we  were  likely  to  overtake  him  in  a  short 
time.  We  could  see,  however,  from  the  long  jumps  that  he  was 
taking  that  he  was  making  excellent  time,  but  we  frequently  no- 
ticed, after  we  had  gone  some  distance,  that  the  prickly  pears  and 
stones  along  his  route  were  cutting  his  bare  foot,  as  nearly  every 
track  of  it  was  spotted  with  blood. 

AN  EXTRAORDINARY  RUN  FOR  LIBERTY. 

We  had  run  our  horses  some  twelve  miles  when  we  saw  Bevins 
crossing  a  ridge  about  two  miles  ahead.  Urging  our  horses  up 
to  their  utmost  speed,  we  reached  the  ridge  just  as  he  was  de- 
scending the  divide  towards  the  South  Platte,  which  stream  was 
very  deep  and  swift  at  this  point.  It  became  evident  that  if  he 
should  cross  it  ahead  of  us,  he  would  have  a  good  chance  of  mak- 
ing his  escape.  So  pushing  our  steeds  as  fast  as  possible,  we 
rapidly  gained  on  him,  and  when  within  a  hundred  yards  of  him  I 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


563 


cried  to  him  to  halt  or  I  would  shoot.     Knowing  I  was  a  good 
shot,  he  stopped,  and  coolly  sitting  down  waited  till  we  came  up. 


A    HORSE  THIEF    THAT    WAS    GAME. 

"  Bevins,  you've  given  us  a  good  run/'  said  I. 

"  Yes/'  said  he,  »  and  if  I  had  had  fifteen  minutes  more  of  a 


564  STORY   OP   THE   WILD   WEST. 

start,  and  got  across  the  Platte,  I  would  have  laughed  at  the  idea 
of  your  ever  catching  me." 

Bevins'  run  was  the  most  remarkable  feat  of  the  kind  ever 
fcnownj  either  of  a  white  man,  or  an  Indian.  A  man  who  could 
run  bare-footed  in  the  snow  eighteen  miles  through  a  prickly  pear 
patch,  was  certainly  a  "  tough  one,"  and  that's  the  kind  of  a  per- 
Bon  Bill  Bevins  was.  Upon  looking  at  his  bleeding  foot  I  really 
felt  sorry  for  him.  He  asked  me  for  my  knife,  and  I  gave  him 
my  sharp-pointed  bowie,  with  which  he  dug  the  prickly  pear  briars 
out  of  his  foot.  I  considered  him  as  **  game  "  a  man  as  I  had 

D 

ever  met. 

"  Bevins,  I  have  got  to  take  you  back,"  said  I,  "  but  as  you 
can't  walk  with  that  foot,  you  can  ride  my  horse  and  I'll  foot  it." 

We  accordingly  started  back  for  our  camp,  with  Bevins  on  my 
horse,  which  was  led  either  by  Green  or  myself,  as  we  alternately 
rode  the  other  horse.  We  kept  a  close  watch  on  Bevins,  for  we 
had  ample  proof  that  he  needed  watching.  His  wounded  foot 
must  have  pained  him  terribly  but  not  a  word  of  complaint  es- 
caped him.  On  arriving  at  the  camp  we  found  Williams  bound 
as  we  had  left  him  and  he  seemed  sorry  that  we  had  captured 
Bevins. 

A  SUCCESSFUL    BREAK   IN   THE   DARK. 

After  breakfasting  we  resumed  our  journey,  and  nothing  worthy 
of  note  again  occurred  until  we  reached  the  Arkansas  river, 
where  we  found  a  vacant  cabin  and  at  once  took  possession  of  it 
for  the  night.  There  was  no  likelihood  of  Bevins  again  trying 
to  escape,  for  his  foot  had  swollen  to  an  enormous  size  and  was 
useless.  Believing  that  Williams  could  not  escape  from  the 
cabin,  we  unbound  him.  We  then  went  to  sleep,  leaving  Long 
Doc  on  guard,  the  cabin  being  comfortably  warmed  and  well 
lighted  by  the  tire.  It  was  a  dark,  stormy  night— so  dark  that 
you  could  hardly  see  your  hand  before  you.  At  about  ten  o'  clock 
Williams  asked  Long  Doc  to  allow  him  to  step  to  the  door  for  a 
moment. 

Long  Doc,  who  had  his  revolver  in  his  hand,  did  not  think  it 
necessary  to  wake  us  up,  and  believing  that  he  could  take  care  of 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


565 


the  prisoner,  he  granted  his  request.  Williams  thereupon  walked 
to  the  outer  edge  of  the  door,  while  Long  Doc,  revolver  in  hand, 
was  watching  him  from  the  inside.  Suddenly  Williams  made  a 
spring  to  the  right,  and  before  Doc  could  even  raise  his  revolver, 
he  had  dodged  around  the  house.  Doc  jumped  after  him,  and 
fired  just  as  he  turned  a  corner,  the  report  bringing  us  all  to  our 


ROBBING    A    STAGE    COACH. 


feet,  and  in  an 
instant  we  knew 
what  had  hap- 
pened. I  at 
once  covered 
Bevins  with  my 
revolver,  but  as 
I  saw  that  he  could  hardly  stir,  and  was  making  no  demon- 
stration, I  lowered  the  weapon.  Just  then  Doc  came  in  swear- 
ing "  a  blue  streak,"  and  announced  that  Williams  had  escaped. 
There  was  nothing  for  us  to  do  except  to  gather  our  horses 
close  to  the  cabin  and  stand  guard  over  them  for  the  rest  of  the 
night,  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  Williams  sneaking  up  and 
stealing  one  of  them.  That  was  the  last  I  ever  saw  or  heard  of 
Williams. 


566  STORY  or  THE  WILD  WEST. 


BREAKING   UP   OF   THE    GANG. 

We  finally  got  back  to  Fort  Lyon  with  Bevins,  and  General 
Carr,  to  whom  I  immediately  reported,  complimented  us  highly 
on  the  success  of  our  trip,  notwithstanding  we  had  lost  one  pris- 
oner. The  next  day  we  took  Bevins  to  Boggs'  ranch  on  Picket 
Wire  creek,  and  there  turned  him  over  to  the  civil  authorities, 
who  put  him  in  a  log  jail  to  await  his  trial.  He  was  never  tried, 
however,  for  he  soon  made  his  escape,  as  I  expected  he  would. 
I  heard  no  more  of  him  until  1872,  when  I  learned  that  he  was 
skirmishing  around  on  Laramie  plains  at  his  old  tricks.  He  sent 
word  by  the  gentleman  from  whom  I  gained  this  information, 
that  if  he  ever  met  me  again  he  would  kill  me  on  sight.  He 
was  finally  arrested  and  convicted  for  robbery,  and  was  confined 
in  the  prison  at  Laramie  City.  Again  he  made  his  escape,  and 
soon  afterwards  he  organized  a  desperate  gang  of  outlaws  who 
infested  the  country  north  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  and 
when  the  stages  began  to  run  between  Cheyenne  and  Deadwood, 
in  the  Black  Hills,  they  robbed  the  coaches  and  passengers,  fre- 
quently making  large  hauls  of  plunder.  They  kept  this  up  for 
some  time,  till  finally  most  of  the  gang  were  caught,  tried,  con- 
victed and  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  a  number  of  years.  Bill 
Bevins  and  nearly  all  of  his  gang  are  now  confined  in  the  Nebraska 
State  prison,  to  which  they  were  transferred  from  Wyoming. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  567 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

A   MILITARY    EXPEDITION. 

.DAY  or  two  after  my  return  to  Fort 
Lyon,  the  Fifth  Cavalry  were  ordered 
to  the  Department  of  the  Platte,  and 
took  up  their  line  of  march  for  Fort  Mc- 
Pherson,  Nebraska.  We  laid  over  one  day 
at  Fort  Wallace,  to  get  supplies,  and  while 
^p^there  I  had  occasion  to  pass  General  Bank- 
Jr^^1  head's  headquarters.  His  orderly  called  to  me 
"  ^  and  said  the  General  wished  to  see  me.  As  I  entered 
the  General's  office  he  extended  his  hand  and  said: 
"I  hope  you  have  no  hard  feelings  toward  me,  Cody, 
for  having  you  arrested  when  you  were  here.  I  have  just  had  a 
talk  with  General  Carr  and  Quartermaster  Hays  and  they  in- 
formed me  that  you  had  their  permission  to  ride  the  horse  and 
mule,  and  if  you  had  stated  this  fact  to  me  there  would  have 
been  no  trouble  about  the  matter  whatever." 

"  That  is  all  right,  General,"  said  I ;  "  I  will  think  no  more 
of  it.  But  I  don't  believe  that  your  quartermaster's  agent  will 
ever  again  circulate  false  stories  about  me." 

"  No,"  said  the  General;  "  he  has  not  yet  recovered  from  the 
beating  that  you  gave  him." 

From  Fort  Wallace  we  moved  down  to  Sheridan,  where  the 
command  halte/i  for  us  to  lay  in  a  supply  of  forage  which  was 
stored  there.  I  was  still  messing  with  Major  Brown,  with  whom 
1  went  into  the  village  to  purchase  a  supply  of  provisions  for 
our  mess;  but  unfortunately  we  were  in  too  jolly  a  mood  to  fool 
away  money  on  "  grub."  We  bought  several  articles,  however, 
and  put  them  into  the  ambulance  and  sent  them  back  to  the  camp 
with  our  cook.  The  Major  and  myself  did  not  return  until 
reveille  next  morning.  Soon  afterwards  the  General  sounded 


568  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

"  boots  and  saddles,"  and  presently  the  regiment  was  on  its  way 
to  McPherson. 

It  was  very  late  before  we  went  into  camp  that  night  and  we 
were  tired  and  hungry.  Just  as  Major  Brown  was  having  his 
tent  put  up  his  cook  came  to  us  and  asked  where  the  provisions 
were  that  we  had  bought  the  day  before. 

<«  Why,  did  we  not  give  them  to  you —  did  you  not  bring  them 
to  camp  in  the  ambulance?  "  asked  Major  Brown. 

"  No,  sir;  it  was  only  a  five-gallon  demijohn  of  whisky,  a  five- 
gallon  demijohn  of  brandy,  and  two  cases  of  Old  Tom-Cat  gin," 
said  the  cook. 

"  The  mischief!  "  I  exclaimed;  "  didn't  we  spend  any  money 
on  grub  at  all  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  replied  the  cook. 

"  Well,  that  will  do  for  the  present,"  said  Major  Brown. 

It  seems  that  our  minds  had  evidently  been  running  on  a  dif- 
ferent subject  than  provisions  while  we  were  loitering  in  Sheridan, 
and  we  found  ourselves,  with  a  two  hundred  and  fifty  mile  march 
ahead  of  us,  without  anything  more  inviting  than  ordinary  army 
rations. 

At  this  juncture  Captain  Denny  came  up  and  the  Major  apolo- 
gized for  not  being  able  to  invite  him  to  take  supper  with  us ; 
but  we  did  the  next  best  thing,  and  asked  him  to  take  a  drink. 
He  remarked  that  that  was  what  he  was  looking  for,  and  when 
he  learned  of  our  being  out  of  commissary  supplies  and  that  we 
had  bought  nothing  except  whisky,  brandy  and  gin,  he  said,  joy- 
ously :  — 

"  Boys,  as  we  have  an  abundance,  you  can  eat  with  us  and  we 
will  drink  with  you." 

It  was  a  satisfactory  arrangement,  and  from  that  time  forward 
we  traded  our  liquids  for  their  solids.  When  the  rest  of  the 
officers  heard  of  what  Brown  and  I  had  done  they  all  sent  us  in- 
vitations to  dine  with  them  at  any  time.  We  returned  the  com- 
pliment by  inviting  them  to  drink  with  us  whenever  they  were 
dry.  Although  I  would  not  advise  anybody  to  follow  our  exam- 
ple, yet  it  is  a  fact  that  we  got  more  provisions  for  our  whisky 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  569 

than  tne  same  money,  which  we  paid  for  the  liquor,  would  have 
bought,  so  after  all  it  proved  a  very  profitable  investment. 

A    BIG    INDIAN    TRAIL. 

On  reaching  north  fork  of  the  Beaver  and  riding  down  the  val- 
ley towards  the  stream,  I  suddenly  discovered  a  large  fresh 
Indian  trail.  On  examination  I  found  it  to  be  scattered  all  over 
the  valley  on  both  sides  of  the  creek,  as  if  a  very  large  village 
had  recently  passed  down  that  way.  Judging  from  the  size  of 
the  trail,  I  thought  there  could  not  be  less  than  four  hundred 
lodges,  or  between  twenty-five  hundred  and  three  thousand  war- 
riors, women  and  children  in  the  band.  I  galloped  back  to  the 
command,  distant  about  three  miles,  and  reported  the  news  to 
General  Carr,  who  halted  the  regiment,  and,  after  consulting  a 
few  minutes,  ordered  me  to  select  a  ravine,  or  as  low  ground  as 
possible,  so  that  he  could  keep  the  troops  out  of  sight  until  we 
could  strike  the  creek. 

We  went  into  camp  on  the  Beaver,  and  the  General  ordered 
Lieutenant  Ward  to  take  twelve  men  and  myself  and  follow  up 
the  trail  for  several  miles,  and  find  out  how  fast  the  Indians  were 
traveling.  I  was  soon  convinced,  by  the  many  camps  they  had 
made,  that  they  were  traveling  slowly,  and  hunting  as  they  jour- 
neyed. We  went  down  the  Beaver  on  this  scout  about  twelve 
miles,  keeping  our  horses  well  concealed  under  the  banks  of 
the  creek,  so  as  not  to  be  discovered. 

At  this  point,  Lieutenant  Ward  and  myself,  leaving  our  horses 
behind  us,  crawled  to  the  top  of  a  high  knoll,  where  we  could 
have  a  good  view  for  some  miles  distant  down  the  stream.  We 
peeped  over  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  not  over  three  miles  away 
we  could  see  a  whole  Indian  village  in  plain  sight,  and  thousands 
of  ponies  grazing  around  on  the  prairie.  Looking  over  to  our 
left  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  we  observed  two  or  three 
parties  of  Indians  coming  in,  loaded  down  with  buffalo  meat. 

"  This  is  no  place  for  us,  Lieutenant,"  said  I ;  "  I  think  we 
have  important  business  at  the  camp  to  attend  to  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible." 


570  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

" 1  agree  with  you,"  said  he,  "  and  the  quicker  we  get  there 
the  better  it  will  be  for  us." 

We  quickly  descended  the  hill  and  joined  the  men  below. 
Lieutenant  Ward  hurriedly  wrote  a  note  to  General  Carr,  and 
handing  it  to  a  corporal,  ordered  him  to  make  all  possible  haste 
back  to  the  command  and  deliver  the  message.  The  man  started 
off  on  a  gallop,  and  Lieutenant  Ward  said:  "We  will  march 
slowly  back  until  we  meet  the  troops,  as  I  think  the  Gen- 
eral will  soon  be  here,  for  he  will  start  immediately  upon  receiv- 
ing my  note." 

ATTACK   ON   THE    COURIER. 

In  a  few  minutes  we  heard  two  or  three  shots  in  the  direction 
in  which  our  dispatch  courier  had  gone,  and  soon  after  we  saw 
him  come  running  around  the  bend  of  the  creek,  pursued  by  four 
or  five  Indians.  The  Lieutenant,  with  his  squad  of  soldiers  and 
myself,  at  once  charged  upon  them,  when  they  turned  and  ran 
across  the  stream. 

"  This  will  not  do,"  said  Lieutenant  Ward,  "  the  whole  Indian 
village  will  now  know  that  soldiers  are  near  by. 

"  Lieutenant,  give  me  that  note,  and  I  will  take  it  to  the  Gen- 
eral," said  I. 

He  gladly  handed  me  the  dispatch,  and  spurring  my  horse  I 
dashed  up  the  creek.  After  having  ridden  a  short  distance,  I 
observed  another  party  of  Indians  also  going  to  the  village  with 
meat;  but  instead  of  waiting  for  them  to  fire  upon  me,  I  gave 
them  a  shot  at  long  range.  Seeing  one  man  firing  at  them  so 
boldly,  it  surprised  them,  and  they  did  not  know  what  to  make  of 
it.  While  they  were  thus  considering,  I  got  between  them  and 
our  camp.  By  this  time  they  had  recovered  from  their  surprise, 
and,  cutting  their  buffalo  meat  loose  from  their  horses,  they 
came  after  me  at  the  top  of  their  speed ;  but  as  their  steeds  were 
tired  out,  it  did  not  take  me  long  to  leave  them  far  in  the  rear. 

I  reached  the  command  in  less  than  an  hour,  delivered  the 
dispatch  to  General  Carr,  and  informed  him  of  what  I  had 
seen.  He  instantly  had  the  bugler  sound  "boots  and  saddles," 
and  all  the  troops  —  with  the  exception  of  two  companies  which 


5  /2  STORY   OF    THE   WILD   WEST. 

we  left  to  guard  the  train  —  were  soon  galloping  in  the  direction 
of  the  Indian  camp. 

A  LIEUTENANT  IN  SHARP  QUARTERS. 

We  had  ridden  about  three  miles  when  we  met  Lieutenant 
Ward,  who  was  coming  slowly  towards  us.  He  reported  that  he 
had  run  into  a  party  of  Indian  buffalo  hunters,  and  had  killed  one 
of  the  number,  and  had  had  one  of  his  horses  wounded.  We  im- 
mediately pushed  forward  and  after  marching  about  five  miles 
came  within  sight  of  hundreds  of  mounted  Indians  advancing  up 
the  creek  to  meet  us.  They  formed  a  complete  line  in  front  of 
us.  General  Carr,  being  desirous  of  striking  their  village,  or- 
dered the  troops  to  charge,  break  through  their  line,  and  keep 
straight  on.  This  movement  would,  no  doubt,  have  been  suc- 
cessfully accomplished  had  it  not  been  for  the  rattlebrained  and 
dare-devil  French  Lieutenant  Schinosky,  commanding  Company 
B,  who,  misunderstanding  General  Carr's  orders,  charged  upon 
some  Indians  at  the  left,  while  the  rest  of  the  command  dashed 
through  the  enemy's  line,  and  was  keeping  straight  on,  when  it 
was  observed  that  Schinosky  and  his  company  were  surrounded 
by  four  or  five  hundred  red-skins.  The  General,  to  save  the 
company,  was  obliged  to  sound  a  halt  and  charge  back  to  the 
rescue.  The  company,  during  this  short  fight,  had  several  men 
and  quite  a  number  of  horses  killed. 

All  this  took  up  valuable  time,  and  night  was  coming  on.  The 
Indians  were  fighting  desperately  to  keep  us  from  reaching  their 
village,  which  being  informed  by  couriers  of  what  was  taking 
place,  was  packing  up  and  getting  away.  During  that  afternoon 
it  was  all  we  could  do  to  hold  our  own  in  fighting  the  mounted 
warriors,  who  were  in  our  front  and  contesting  every  inch  of  the 
ground.  The  General  had  left  word  for  our  wagon  train  to  fol- 
low up  with  its  escort  of  two  companies,  but  as  it  had  not  made 
its  appearance  he  entertained  some  fears  that  it  had  been  sur- 
rounded, and  to  prevent  the  possible  loss  of  the  supply  train  we 
had  to  go  back  and  look  for  it.  About  9  o'clock  that  evening 
we  found  it,  and  went  into  camp  for  the  night. 


574  STORY  OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Early  the  next  day  we  broke  camp  and  passed  down  the  creek 
but  there  was  not  an  Indian  to  be  seen.  They  had  all  disappeared 
and  gone  on  with  their  village.  Two  miles  further  we  came  to 
where  a  village  had  been  located,  and  here  we  found  nearly  every- 
thing belonging  or  pertaining  to  an  Indian  camp,  which  had  been 
left  in  the  great  hurry  to  get  away.  These  articles  were  all 
gathered  up  and  burned.  We  then  pushed  out  on  the  trail  as 
fast  as  possible.  It  led  us  to  the  northeast  towards  the  Repub- 
lican ;  but  as  the  Indians  had  a  night  the  start  of  us  we  enter- 
tained but  little  hope  of  overtaking  them  that  day.  Upon  reach- 
ing the  Republican  in  the  afternoon  the  General  called  a  halt,  and 
as  the  trail  was  running  more  to  the  east,  he  concluded  to  send 
his  wagon  train  on  to  Fort  McPherson  by  the  most  direct  route, 
while  he  would  follow  on  the  trail  of  the  red-skins. 

Next  morning  at  daylight  we  again  pulled  out  and  were  evi- 
dently gaining  rapidly  on  the  Indians  for  we  could  occasionally 
see  them  in  the  distance.  About  11  o'clock  that  day  while  Major 
Babcock  was  ahead  of  the  main  command  with  his  company,  and 
while  we  were  crossing  a  deep  ravine,  we  were  surprised  by  about 
three  hundred  warriors  who  commenced  a  lively  fire  upon  us. 
Galloping  out  of  the  ravine  on  to  the  rough  prairie  the  men  dis- 
mounted and  returned  the  fire.  We  soon  succeeded  in  driving 
the  enemy  before  us,  and  were  so  close  upon  them  at  one  time 
that  they  abandoned  and  threw  away  nearly  all  their  lodges  arid 
camp  equipages,  and  everything  that  had  any  considerable  weight. 
They  left  behind  them  their  played-out  horses,  and  for  miles  we 
could  see  Indian  furniture  strewn  along  in  every  direction.  The 
trail  became  divided,  and  the  Indians  scattered  in  small  bodies, 
all  over  the  prairie.  As  night  was  approaching  and  our  horses 
were  about  giving  out,  a  halt  was  called.  A  company  was  de- 
tailed to  collect  all  the  Indian  horses  running  loose  over  the  coun- 
try, and  to  burn  the  other  Indian  property. 

The  command  being  nearly  out  of  rations  I  was  sent  to  the 
nearest  point,  Old  Fort  Kearney,  about  sixty  miles  distant  for 
supplies. 


576  STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

RE-ENFORCED    BY   THE   PAWNEE    SCOUTS. 

Shortly  after  we  reached  Fort  McPherson,  which  continued  to 
be  the  headquarters  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry  for  some  time,  we 
fitted  out  for  a  new  expedition  to  the  Republican  river  country, 
and  were  re-enforced  by  three  companies  of  the  celebrated  Pawnee 
Indian  scouts,  commanded  by  Major  Frank  North:  his  officers 
being  Captain  Lute  North,  brother  of  the  Major,  Captain  Gush- 
ing, his  brother-in-law,  Captain  Morse,  and  Lieutenants  Beecher, 
Matthews  and  Kislandberry.  General  Carr  recommended  at  this 
time  to  General  Augur,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Department, 
that  I  be  made  chief  of  scouts  in  the  Department  of  the  Platte, 
and  informed  me  that  in  this  position  I  would  receive  higher 
wages  than  I  had  Been  getting  in  the  Department  of  the  Missouri. 
This  appointment  I  had  not  asked  for. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Major  Frank  North  and  I  found 
him  and  his  officers  perfect  gentlemen,  and  we  were  all  good 
friends  from  the  very  start.  The  Pawnee  scouts  had  made  quite 
a  reputation  for  themselves  as  they  had  performed  brave  and 
valuable  services  in  fighting  against  the  Sioux,  whose  bitter 
enemies  they  were ;  being  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Repub- 
lican and  Beaver  country,  I  was  glad  that  they  were  to  be 
with  the  expedition,  and  my  expectation  of  the  aid  they  would 
render  was  not  disappointed. 

During  our  stay  at  Fort  McPherson  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Lieutenant  George  P.  Belden,  known  as  the  "  White  Chief," 
wnose  life  was  written  by  Colonel  Brisbin,  U.  S.  army.  I 
found  him  to  be  an  intelligent,  dashing  fellow,  a  splendid  rider 
and  an  excellent  shot.  An  hour  after  our  introduction  he 
challenged  me  for  a  rifle  match,  the  preliminaries  of  which  were 
soon  arranged.  We  were  to  shoot  ten  shots  each  for  fifty  dollars, 
at  two  hundred  yards,  off  hand.  Belden  was  to  use  a  Henry  rifle, 
while  I  was  to  shoot  my  old  "  Lucretia."  This  match  I  won  and 
then  Belden  proposed  to  shoot  a  one  hundred  yard  match,  as  I 
was  shooting  over  his  distance.  In  this  match  Belden  was  vic- 
torious. We  were  now  even,  and  we  stopped  right  there. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


577 


A    COMICAL    SIGHT. 

While  we  were  at  this  post  General  Augur  and  several  of  his 
officers,  and  also  Thomas  Duncan,  Brevet  Brigadier  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  paid  us  a  visit  for  the 
purpose  of  reviewing  the  command.  The  regiment  turned  out 
in  fine  style  and  showed  themselves  to  be  well  drilled  soldiers, 
thoroughly  understanding  military  tactics.  The  Pawnee  scouts 
were  also  reviewed  and  it  was  very  amusing  to  see  them  in  their 
full  regulation  uniform.  They  had  been  furnished  a  regular 
cavalry  uniform  and  on  this  parade  some  of  them  had  their  heavy 
overcoats  on,  others  their  large  black  hats,  with  all  the  brass 
accoutrements  attached;  some  of  them  were  minus  pantaloons 
and  only  wore  a  breech-clout.  Others  wore  regulation  pantaloons 
but  no  shirts  and  were  bare  headed ;  others  again  had  the  seat 
of  the  pantaloons  cut  out,  leaving  only  leggins ;  some  of  them  wore 
brass  spurs ,  though  without  boots  or  moccasins ;  but  for  all  this  they 
eeemed  to  understand  the  drill  remarkably  well  for  Indians.  The 
commands,  of  course,  were  given  to  them  in  their  own  language 
by  Major  North,  who  could  talk  it  as  well  as  any  full-blooded 
Pawnee.  The  Indians  were  well  mounted  and  felt  proud  and 
elated  because  they  had  been  made  United  States  soldiers. 
Major  North  had  for  years  complete  power  over  these  Indians  and 
could  do  more  with  them  than  any  man  living.  That  evening 
after  the  parade  was  over  the  officers  and  quite  a  number  of 
ladies  visited  a  grand  Indian  dance  given  by  the  Paw.nees,  and  of 
all  the  Indians  I  have  seen  their  dances  excel  those  of  any  other 
tribe. 

BATTLE    BETWEEN   THE    SIOUX   AND   PAWNEES. 

Next  day  the  command  started;  when  encamped,  several  days 
after,  on  the  Republican  river  near  the  mouth  of  the  Beaver,  we 
heard  the  whoops  of  Indians,  followed  by  shots  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  mule  herd,  which  had  been  taken  down  to  water.  One  of 
the  herders  came  dashing  into  camp  with  an  arrow  sticking  into 
him.  My  horse  was  close  at  hand,  and,  mounting  him  bare-back, 
I  at  once  dashed  off  after  the  mule  herd,  which  had  been  stam- 

37 


STORY   OF    THE   WILD   WEST* 

oeded.  I  supposed  certainly  that  I  would  be  the  first  man  on 
the  ground,  but  I  was  mistaken,  however,  for  the  Pawnee  Indians, 
unlike  regular  soldiers,  had  not  waited  to  receive  orders  from 
their  officers,  but  had  jumped  on  their  ponies  without  bridles  or 
saddles,  and  placing  ropes  in  their  mouths,  had  dashed  off  in  the 
direction  whence  the  shots  had  come,  and  had  got  there  ahead  of 
me.  It  proved  to  be  a  party  of  about  fifty  Sioux,  who  had  en- 
deavored to  stampede  our  mules,  and  it  took  them  by  surprise 
to  see  their  inveterate  enemies  —  the  Pawnees  —  coming  at  full 
gallop  towards  them.  They  were  not  aware  that  the  Pawnees 
were  with  the  command,  and  as  they  knew  that  it  would  take 
regular  soldiers  some  time  to  turn  out,  they  thought  they  would 
have  ample  opportunity  to  secure  the  herd  before  the  troops 
could  give  chase. 

We  had  a  running  fight  of  fifteen  miles  and  several  of  the  ene- 
my were  killed.  During  this  chase  I  was  mounted  on  an  excellent 
horse,  which  Colonel  Royal  had  picked  out  for  me,  and  for  the 
first  mile  or  two  I  was  in  advance  of  the  Pawnees.  Presently  a 
Pawnee  shot  by  me  like  an  arrow  and  I  could  not  help  admiring 
the  horse  that  he  was  riding.  Seeing  that  he  possessed  rare 
running  qualities,  I  determined  if  possible  to  get  possession  of 
the  animal  in  some  way.  It  was  a  large  buckskin  or  yellow 
horse,  and  I  took  a  careful  view  of  him  so  that  I  would  know  him 
when  I  returned  to  camp. 

After  the  chase  was  over  I  rode  up  to  Major  North  and  inquired 
about  the  buckskin  horse. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  the  Major,  "that  is  one  of  our  favorite 
steeds." 

*•  What  chance  is  there  to  trade  for  him?"  I  asked. 

"It  is  a  government  horse,"  said  he,  "  and  the  Indian  who  is 
riding  him  is  very  much  attached  to  the  animal." 

"  I  have  fallen  in  love  with  the  horse  myself,"  said  I,  "  and  I 
would  like  to  know  if  you  have  any  objections  to  my  trading  for 
him  if  I  can  arrange  it  satisfactorily  with  the  Indian?  " 

He  replied:  "  None  whatever,  and  I  will  help  you  to  do  it ;  you 
-can  give  the  Indian  another  horse  in  his  place." 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  579 

A  few  days  after  this,  I  persuaded  the  Indian,  by  making  him 
several  presents,  to  trade  horses  with  me,  and  in  this  way  I  be- 
came the  owner  of  the  buckskin  steed,  not  as  my  own  property, 
however,  but  as  a  government  horse  that  I  could  ride.  I  gave 
him  the  name  of  "  Buckskin  Joe  "  and  he  proved  to  be  a  second 
Brigham.  That  horse  I  rode  on  and  off  during  the  summers  of 
1869,  1870,  1871  and  1872,  and  he  was  the  horse  that  the  Gniml 
Duke  Alexis  rode  on  his  buffalo  hunt.  In  the  winter  of  1872, 


PAWNEE    BUFFALO    HUNTERS. 

ifter  I  had  left  Fort  McPherson,  Buckskin  Joe  was  condemned 
and  sold  at  public  sale,  and  was  bought  by  Dave  Perry,  at  North 
Platte,  who  in  1877  presented  him  to  me,  and  I  owned  him  until 
his  death  in  1879. 

The  command  scouted  several  days  up  the  Beaver  and  Prairie 
Dog  rivers,  occasionally  having  running  fights  with  way  parties 
of  Indians,  but  did  not  succeed  in  getting  them  into  a  general 
battle.  At  the  end  of  twenty  days  we  found  ourselves  back  on 
the  Republican. 


580  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

THE    INDIANS    THINK    BETTER    OF   ME. 

Hitherto  the  Pawnees  had  not  taken  much  interest  in  me,  but 
while  at  this  camp  I  gained  their  respect  and  admiration  by  show- 
ing them  how  I  killed  buffaloes.  Although  the  Pawnees  were 
excellent  buffalo  killers,  for  Indians,  I  have  never  seen  one  of 
them  who  could  kill  more  than  four  or  five  in  one  run.  A  number 
of  them  generally  surround  the  herd  and  then  dash  in  upon  them, 
and  in  this  way  each  one  kills  from  one  to  four  buffaloes.  I  had 
gone  out  in  company  with  Major  North  and  some  of  the  officers, 
and  saw  them  make  a  "  surround."  Twenty  of  the  Pawnees 
circled  a  herd  and  succeeded  in  killing  only  thirty-two. 

While  they  were  cutting  up  the  animals  another  herd  appeared 
in  sight.  The  Indians  were  preparing  to  surround  it,  when  I 
asked  Major  North  to  keep  them  back  and  let  me  show  them 
what  I  could  do.  He  accordingly  informed  the  Indians  of  my 
wish  and  they  readily  consented  to  let  me  have  the  opportunity. 
I  had  learned  that  Buckskin  Joe  was  an  excellent  buffalo  horse, 
and  felt  confident  that  I  would  astonish  the  natives ;  galloping  in 
among  the  buffaloes,  I  certainly  did  so  by  killing  thirty-six  in  less 
than  a  half-mile  run.  At  nearly  every  shot  I  killed  a  buffalo, 
stringing  the  dead  animals  out  on  the  prairie,  not  over  fifty  feet 
apart.  This  manner  of  killing  was  greatly  admired  by  the  In- 
dians who  called  me  a  big  chief,  and  from  that  time  on  I  stood 
high  in  their  estimation. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


581 


CHAPTER    XV. 


A  DESPERATE  FIGHT. 

cflN  leaving  camp,  the  command  took  a  west, 
ward  course  up  the  Republican,  and 
Major  North  with  two  companies  of  his 
Pawnees  and  two  or  three  companies  of 
cavalry,  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Royal,  made  a  scout  to  the  north  of  the 
river.  Shortly  after  we  had  gone  into  camp, 
on  the  Black  Tail  Deer  fork,  we  observed  a 
band  of  Indians  coming  over  the  prairie  at  full 
i  gallop,  singing  and  yelling  and  waving  their 
lances  and  long  poles.  At  first  we  supposed  them 
to  be  Sioux,  and  all  was  excitement  for  a  few 
moments.  We  noticed,  however,  that  our  Pawnee 
Indians  made  no  hostile  demonstrations  or  preparations  toward 
going  out  to  fight  them,  but  began  swinging  and  yelling  them- 
selves. Captain  Lute  North  stepped  up  to  General  Carr  and 
said:  "  General,  those  are  oar  men  who  are  coming,  and  they 
have  had  a  fight.  That  is  the  way  they  act  when  they  come  back 
from  a  battle  and  have  taken  any  scalps/' 

The  Pawnees  came  into  camp  on  the  run.  Captain  North 
calling  to  one  of  them  —  a  sergeant  —  soon  found  out  that  they 
had  run  across  a  party  of  Sioux  who  were  following  a  large  Indian 
trail.  These  Indians  had  evidently  been  in  a  fight,  for  two  or 
three  of  them  had  been  wounded  and  they  were  conveying  the 
injured  persons  on  travoix.  The  Pawnees  had  "  jumped  "  them 
and  had  killed  three  or  four  after  a  sharp  fight,  in  which  much 
ammunition  was  expended. 

Next  morning  the  command,  at  an  early  hour,  started  out  to 
take  up  this  Indian  trail  which  they  followed  for  two  days  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  it  becoming  evident  from  the  many  camp- 
fires  which  we  passed  that  we  were  gaining  on  the  Indians- 


582 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


Wherever  they  had  encamped  we  found  the  print  of  a  woman's 
shoe,  and  we  concluded  that  they  had  with  them  some  white  cap- 
tive. This  made  us  all  the  more  anxious  to  overtake  them,  and 
General  Carr  accordingly  selected  all  his  best  horses,  which 
could  stand  a  hard  run,  and  gave  orders  for  the  wagon  train  to 
follow  as  fast  as  possible,  while  he  pushed  ahead  on  a  forced 
march.  At  the  same  time  I  was  ordered  to  pick  out  five  or  six 
of  the  best  Pawnees,  and  go  on  in  advance  of  the  command, 
keeping  ten  or  twelve  miles  ahead  on  the  trail,  so  that  when  we 
overtook  the  Indians  we  could  find  out  the  location  of  their  camp, 
and  send  word  to  the  troops  before  they  came  in  sight,  thus 

affording  ample  time  to 
arrange  a  plan  for  the 
capture  of  the  village. 

After  having  gone  about 
ten  miles  in  advance  of  the 
regiment,  we  began  to 
move  very  cautiously,  as 
we  were  now  evidently 
nearing  the  Indians.  We 
looked  carefully  over  the 
summits  of  the  hills  before 
exposing  ourselves  to  plain 
view,  and  at  last  we  dis- 
covered the  village,  en- 
camped in  the  sand-hills  south  of  the  South  Platte  river  at  Sum- 
mit Springs.  Here  I  left  the  Pawnee  scouts  to  keep  watch,  while 
I  went  back  and  informed  General  Carr  that  the  Indians  were  in 
sight. 

The  General  at  once  ordered  his  men  to  tighten  their  saddles 
and  otherwise  prepare  for  action.  Soon  all  was  excitement 
among  the  officers  and  soldiers,  every  one  being  anxious  to  charge 
the  village.  I  now  changed  my  horse  for  old  Buckskin  Joe,  who 
had  been  led  for  me  thus  far,  and  was  comparatively  fresh.  Act- 
ing on  my  suggestion,  the  General  made  a  circuit  to  the  north, 
believing  that  if  the  Indians  had  their  scouts  out,  they  would 


GEN.    E.    A.    CARR. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  583 

naturally  be  watching  in  the  direction  whence  they  had  come. 
When  we  had  passed  the  Indians  and  were  between  them  and 
the  Platte  river,  we  turned  toward  the  left  and  started  toward 
the  village. 

By  this  manoeuver  we  had  avoided  discovery  by  the  Sioux 
scouts,  and  we  were  confident  of  giving  them  a  complete  surprise. 
Keeping  the  command  wholly  out  of  sight,  until  we  were  within 
a  mile  of  the  Indians,  the  General  halted  the  advance  guard  until 
all  closed  up,  and  then  issued  an  order  that,  when  he  sounded  the 
charge,  the  whole  command  was  to  rush  into  the  village. 

A  CHARGE  THROUGH  THE  INDIAN   VILLAGE. 

As  we  halted  on  the  top  of  the  hill  overlooking  the  camp  of  the 
unsuspecting  Indians,  General  Carr  called  out  to  his  bugler: 
"  Sound  the  charge!"  The  bugler  for  a  moment  became  Jn- 
tensely  excited,  and  actually  forgot  the  notes.  The  General 
again  sang  out:  "  Sound  the  charge!  "  and  yet  the  bugler  was 
unable  to  obey  the  command.  Quartermaster  Hays  —  who  had 
obtained  permission  to  accompany  the  expedition  —  was  riding 
near  the  General,  and  comprehending  the  dilemma  of  the  mar 
rushed  up  to  him,  jerked  the  bugle  from  his  hands  and  soundec 
the  charge  himself  in  clear  and  distinct  notes.  As  the  troops 
rushed  forward,  he  threw  the  bugle  away,  then  drawing  his  pis- 
tols, was  among  the  first  men  that  entered  the  village. 

The  Indians  had  just  driven  up  their  horses  and  were  prepar- 
ing to  make  a  move  of  the  camp,  when  they  saw  the  soldiers 
coming  down  upon  them.  A  great  many  of  them  succeeded  in 
jumping  upon  their  ponies,  and  leaving  everything  behind  them, 
advanced  out  of  the  village  and  prepared  to  meet  the  charge  ;  but 
upon  second  thought  they  quickly  concluded  that  it  was  useless 
to  try  to  check  us,  and  those  who  were  mounted  rapidly  rode 
away,  while  the  others  on  foot  fled  for  safety  to  the  neighboring 
hills.  We  went  through  their  village,  shooting  right  and  left  at 
everything  we  saw.  The  Pawnees,  the  regular  soldiers  and  offi- 
cers were  all  mixed  up  together,  and  the  Sioux  were  flying  in 
evrry  direct  ion. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  585 

The  pursuit  continued  until  darkness  made  it  impossible  to 
longer  follow  the  Indians,  who  had  scattered  and  were  leading 

o  o 

off  in  every  direction  like  a  brood  of  young  quails.  The  expedi- 
tion went  into  camp  along  the  South  Platte,  much  exhausted  by 
so  long  a  chase,  and  though  very  tired,  every  trooper  seemed 
anxious  for  the  morrow. 

It  was  nearly  sunrise  when  "  boots  and  saddles  "  was  sounded, 
breakfast  having  been  disposed  of  at  break  of  day.  The  com- 
mand started  in  a  most  seasonable  time,  but  finding  that  the  trail 
was  all  broken  up,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  separate  into  com- 
panies, each  to  follow  a  different  trail. 

The  company  which  I  headed  struck  out  toward  the  North- 
west over  a  route  indicating  the  march  of  about  one  hundred 
Indians,  and  followed  this  for  nearly  two  days.  At  K,  short 
bend  of  the  Platte  a  new  trail  was  discovered  leading  mto  the 
one  the  company  was  following,  and  at  this  point  it  was  evident 
that  n  junction  had  been  made.  Further  along  evidences  of  are- 
union  of  the  entire  village  increased,  and  now  it  began  to  appear 
that  further  pursuit  would  be  somewhat  hazardous,  owing  to  the 
largely  increased  force  of  Indians.  But  there  were  plenty  of 
brave  men  in  the  company  and  nearly  all  were  anxious  fo  meet 
the  Indians,  however  great  their  numbers  might  be.  This  anx- 
iety was  appeased  on  the  third  day,  when  a  party  of  about  six 
hundred  Sioux  was  discovered  riding  in  close  ranks  near  the 
Platte.  The  discovery  was  mutual  and  there  was.  immediate 
preparation  for  battle  on  both  sides.  Owing  to  the  overwhelm- 
ing force  of  the  Indians,  extreme  caution  became  necessary,  and 
instead  of  advancing  boldly  the  soldiers  sought  advantageous 
ground.  Seeing  this,  the  Indians  became  convinced  that  there 
had  been  a  division  in  Gen.  Carr's  command  and  that  the  com- 
pany before  them  was  a  fragmentary  part  of  the  expedition; 
they  therefore  assumed  the  aggressive,  charging  us  until  we 
were  compelled  to  retire  to  a  ravine  and  act  on  the  defensive. 
The  attack  was  made  with  such  caution  that  the  soldiers  fell  back 
without  undue  haste,  and  had  ample  opportunity  to  secure  their 
horses  in  the  natural  pit.  which  was  a  ravine  that  during 
seasons  formed  a  branch  of  the  Platte. 


686  STORY  OF  THE  WILD  WEST. 

CORRALLED  BY   HOSTILES. 

After  circling  about  the  soldiers  with  the  view  of  measuring 
their  full  strength,  the  Indians,  comprehending  how  small  was 
the  number,  made  a  desperate  charge  from  two  sides,  getting  so 
near  us  that  several  of  the  soldiers  were  badly  wounded  by  ar- 
rows.    But  the  Indians  were  received  with  such  withering  fire 
that  they  fell  back  in  confusion,  leaving  twenty  of  their  warriors 
.  on   the  ground.     Another   charge  resulted    like  the  first,  with 
heavy  loss  to  the  red-skins,  which  so  discouraged  them  that  they 
drew  off  and  held  a  long  council.     After  discussing  the  situation 
among  themselves  for  more  than  an  hour  they  separated,  one 
body  making  off  as  though  they  intended  to  leave,  but  I  under- 
stood their  motions  too  well  to  allow  the  soldiers  to  be  deceived. 
The  Indians  that  remained  again  began  to  ride  in  a  circle  around 
us,  but  maintained  a  safe  distance,  out  of  rifle  range.     Seeing  an 
especially  well  mounted  Indian  riding  at  the  head  of  a  squad, 
passing  around  in  the  same  circle  more  than  a  dozen  times,  I  de- 
cided to  take  my  chances  for  dismounting  the  chief  (as  he  proved 
to  be)  and  to  accomplish  this  purpose  I  crawled  on  my  hands  and 
knees  three  hundred  yards  up  the   ravine,  stopping  at  a  point 
which  I  considered  would  be  in  range  of  the   Indian  when  he 
should  again  make  the  circuit.     My  judgment  proved  correct ,  for 
soon  the  Indian  was  seen  loping  his  pony  through  the  grass,  and 
as  he  slackened  speed  to  cross  the  ravine,  I  rose  up  and  fired, 
the  aim  being  so  well  taken  that  the  chief  tumbled  to  the  ground 
while  his  horse,  after  running  a  few  hundred  yards,  approached 
the  soldiers,  one  of  whom  ran  out  and  caught  hold  of  the  long 
lariat  attached  to  the  bridle,  and  thus  secured  the  animal.     When 
I  returned  to  the  company,  all  of  whom  had  witnessed  my  feat 
of  killing  an  Indian  at  a  range  of  fully  four  hundred  yards,  by 
general  consent  the  horse  of  my  victim  was  given  to  me. 

This  Indian  whom  I  killed  proved  to  be  Tall  Bull,  one  of  the 
most  cunning  and  able  chiefs  the  Sioux  ever  had,  and  his  death 
so  affected  the  Indians  that  they  at  once  retreated  without  further 
attempt  to  dislodge  us. 


AUTOBIOGBAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


587 


Some  days  after  this  occurrence  Gen.  Carr's  command  was 
brought  together  again,  and  had  an  engagement  with  the  Sioux, 
in  which  more  than  three  hundred  warriors  and  a  large  number  of 
ponies  were  captured,  together  with  several  hundred  equcr.vs,  ;rnocg 
the  latter  bein<r  Tall  Bull's  widow,  who  told  with  pnihptir  in' crest 


THE  KILLING  OP  CHIEF  TALL  BULL. 

low  the  Prairie  Chief*  had 
;illed  her  husband.     But  in- d 
stead   of   ^ J      ^    ' 


hatred  against 

o 


being   moved 

me,   as    most 

civilized  women  would  have 
been    under    like    circum-* 
stances,  she  regarded  me  with 


\  \ 


special  favor,  and  esteemed  it  quite  an  honor  that  her  husband, 
a  great  warrior  himself ,  should  have  met  his  death  at   my  hands. 


*  For  many  years  I  was  known  among  all  Northern  Indians  as  the    Prairi  <• 
Chief. 


588  STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

MY    MEETING   WITH    NED    BUNTLINE. 

The  expedition  having  succeeded  in  thoroughly  dispersing  and 
punishing  the  Sioux,  Gen.  Carr  went  into  barracks  at  Fort  Sedg- 
wick,  but  we  had  not  remained  long  in  quarters  before  reports 
of  fresh  outbreaks  reached  us  and  we  had  therefore  to  remain  in 
constant  expectation  of  orders  for  moving. 

One  day,  while  we  were  lying  at  Fort  Sedgwick,  General  Carr 
received  a  telegram  from  Fort  McPherson  stating  that  the  Indians 
had  made  a  dash  on  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  derailing  a 
freight  train,  from  which  they  captured  several  bolts  of  calico 
•and  other  dry  goods,  and  had  killed  several  section-men,  besides 
running  off  some  stock  near  O'Fallon's  station;  also  that  an 
expedition  was  going  out  from  Fort  McPherson  to  catch  and 
punish  the  red-skins  if  possible.  The  General  ordered  me  to 
accompany  the  expedition,  and  accordingly  that  night  I  proceeded 
by  rail  to  McPherson  station,  and  from  thence  rode  on  horseback 
to  the  fort.  Two  companies,  under  command  of  Major  Brown, 
had  been  ordered  out,  and  next  morning,  just  as  we  were  about 
to  start,  Major  Brown  said  to  me : 

"  By  the  way,  Cody,  we  are  going  to  have  quite  an  important 
character  with  us  as  a  guest  on  this  scout.  It's  old  Ned  Buntliue, 
the  novelist." 

Just  then  I  noticed  a  gentleman,  who  was  rather  stoutly  built, 
and  who  wore  a  blue  military  coat,  on  the  left  breast  of  which 
were  pinned  about  twenty  gold  medals  and  badges  of  secret 
societies.  He  walked  a  little  lame  as  he  approached  us,  and  I  at 
once  concluded  that  he  was  Ned  Buntline. 

"  He  has  a  good  mark  to  shoot  at  on  the  left  breast,"  said  I  to 
Major  Brown,  "  but  he  looks  like  a  soldier."  As  he  came  up, 
Major  Brown,  said : 

"  Cody,  allow  me  to  introduce  you  to  Colonel  E.  B.  C.  Judson, 
otherwise  known  as  Ned  Buntline." 

"  Colonel  Judson,  I  am  glad  to  meet  you,"  said  I;  "  the  Major 
tells  me  that  you  are  to  accompany  us  on  the  scout." 

"  Yes,  my  boy,  so  I  am,"  said  he;   "  I  was  to  deliver  a  tern- 


590 


STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


perance  lecture  to-night,  but  no  lectures  for  ine  when  there  h  a 
prospect  for  a  fight.  The  Major  has  kindly  offered  me  a  horse, 
but  I  don't  know  how  I'll  stand  the  ride,  for  I  haven't  done  any 
riding  lately  ;  but  when  I  was  a  young  man  I  spent  several  years 
among  the  fur  companies  of  the  Northwest,  and  was  a  good  rider 
and  an  excellent  shot." 

"  The  Major  has  given  you  a  fine  horse,  and  you'll  soon  find 
yourself  at  home  in  the  saddle,"  said  I. 

The  command  soon  pulled  out  for  the  South  Platte  river, 
which  was  very  wide  and  high,  owing  to  recent  mountain  rains, 
and  in  crossing  it  we  had  to  swim  our  horses  in  some  places. 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  BUFFALOES  —  GATHERING  THE  BONES. 

Buntline  was  the  first  man  across.  We  reached  O'Fallon's  at 
eleven  o'clock,  and  in  a  short  time  I  succeeded  in  finding  the  In- 
dian trail;  the  party  seemed  to  be  a  small  one,  which  had  come 
up  from  the  south.  We  followed  their  track  to  the  North  Platte, 
but  as  they  had  a  start  of  two  days,  Major  Brown  abandoned  the 
pursuit,  and  returned  to  Fort  McPherson,  while  I  went  back  to 
Fort  Sedgwick,  accompanied  by  Buntline. 

During  this  short  scout,  Buntline  had  asked  me  a  great  many 
questions,  and  he  was  determined  to  go  out  on  the  next  expedition 
with  me,  providing  he  could  obtain  permission  from  the  com- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OP  BUFFALO  BILL,  591 

manding  officer.  I  introduced  him  to  the  officers — excepting 
those  he  already  knew  —  and  invited  him  to  become  my  guest 
while  he  remained  at  the  post,  and  gave  him  my  pony  Powder 
Face  to  ride. 

HORSE    RACING    IN    THE    HOSTILE    COUNTRY. 

By  this  time  I  had  learned  that  my  horse  Tall  Bull  was  a  re- 
markably fast  runner,  and  therefore  when  Lieutenant  Mason,  who 
was  quite  a  sport  and  owned  a  racer,  challenged  me  to  a  race,  I 
immediately  accepted  it.  We  were  to  run  our  horses  a  single 
dash  of  half  a  mile  for  one  hundred  dollars  a  side.  Several  of 
the  officers,  and  also  Reub.  Wood,  the  post-trader,  bantered  me 
for  side  bets,  and  I  took  them  all  until  I  had  put  up  my  last  cent 
on  Tall  Bull. 

The  ground  was  measured  off,  the  judges  were  selected,  and  all 
other  preliminaries  were  arranged .  We  rode  our  horses  ourselves, 
and  coming  up  to  the  score  nicely  we  let  them  go.  I  saw  from 
the  start  that  it  would  be  mere  play  to  beat  the  Lieutenant's  horse, 
and  therefore  I  held  Tall  Bull  in  check,  so  that  none  could  see 
how  fast  he  really  could  run.  I  easily  won  the  race,  and  pocketed 
a  snug  little  sum  of  money.  Of  course  everybody  was  now 
talking  horse.  Major  North  remarked  that  if  Tall  Bull  could 
beat  the  Pawnees'  fast  horse,  I  could  break  his  whole  command. 

The  next  day  the  troops  were  paid  off,  the  Pawnees  with  the 
rest,  and  for  two  or  three  days  they  did  nothing  but  run  horse- 
races, as  all  the  recently  captured  horses  had  to  be  tested  to  find 
out  the  swiftest  among  them.  Finally  the  Pawnees  wanted  to 
run  their  favorite  horse  against  Tall  Bull,  and  I  accordingly  ar- 
ranged a  race  with  them.  They  raised  three  hundred  dollars 
and  bet  it  on  their  horse,  while  of  course  I  backed  Tall  Bull 
with  an  equal  amount,  and  in  addition  took  numerous  side  bets. 
The  race  was  a  single  dash  of  a  mile,  and  Tall  Bull  won  it  with- 
out any  difficulty.  I  was  ahead  on  this  race  about  seven  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  the  horse  was  fast  getting  a  reputation.  Here- 
tofore nobody  would  bet  on  him,  but  now  he  had  plenty  of 
backers. 


592  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

THE    TRICK   OF   POWDER-FACE. 

I  also  made  a  run  for  my  pony  Powder  Face  against  a  fast 
pony  belonging  to  Captain  Lute  North.  I  selected  a  small  boy 
living  at  the  post  to  ride  Powder  Face,  while  an  Indian  boy  was 
to  ride  the  other  pony.  The  Pawnees  as  usual  wanted  to  bet  on 
their  pony,  but  as  I  had  not  fully  ascertained  the  running  quali- 
ties of  Powder  Face,  I  did  not  care  about  risking  very  much 
money  on  him.  Had  I  known  him  as  well  then  as  I  did  after- 
wards I  would  have  backed  him  for  every  dollar  I  had,  for  he 
proved  to  be  one  of  the  swiftest  ponies  I  ever  saw,  and  had  evi- 
dently been  kept  as  a  racer. 

The  race  was  to  be  four  hundred  yards,  and  when  I  led  the 
pony  over  the  track  he  seemed  to  understand  what  he  was  there 
for.  North  and  I  finally  put  the  riders  on,  and  it  was  all  I  could 
do  to  hold  the  fiery  little  animal  after  the  boy  became  seated  on 
his  back.  He  jumped  around  and  made  such  quick  movements, 
that  the  boy  was  not  at  all  confident  of  being  able  to  stay  on  him. 
The  order  to  start  was  at  last  given  by  the  judges,  and  as  I 
brought  Powder  Face  up  to  the  score  and  the  Avord  "  go  "  was 
given,  he  jumped  away  so  quickly  that  he  left  his  rider  sitting 
on  the  ground ;  notwithstanding,  he  ran  through  and  won  the  race 
without  him.  It  was  an  easy  victory,  and  after  that  I  could  get 
up  no  more  races.  Thus  passed  the  time  while  we  were  at  Fort 
Sedgwick. 

General  Carr  having  obtained  a  leave  of  absence,  Colonel 
Royal  was  given  the  command  of  an  expedition  that  was  ordered 
to  go  out  after  the  Indians,  and  in  a  few  days  —  after  having 
rested  a  couple  of  weeks  —  we  set  out  for  the  Republican,  having 
learned  that  there  were  plenty  of  Indians  in  that  section  of  the 
country.  At  Frenchman's  fork  we  discovered  an  Indian  village, 
but  did  not  surprise  it,  for  its  people  had  noticed  us  approach- 
ing, and  were  retreating  when  we  reached  their  camping  place. 
We  chased  them  down  the  stream,  and  they  finally  turned  to  the 
Ieft,jvent  north  and  crossed  the  South  Platte  river  five  miles 
above  Ogalalla.  We  pushed  rapidly  after  them,  following  them 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  593 

Across  the  North  Platte  and  on  through  the  sand  hills  towards  the 
Niobrara,  but  as  they  were  making  much  better  time  than  we,  the 
pursuit  was  abandoned. 

AN   INTERESTING   INDIAN   TRADITION. 

While  we  were  in  the  sand  hills,  scouting  the  Niobrara  country, 
the  Pawnee  Indians  brought  into  camp,  one  night,  some  very 
large  Dones,  one  of  which  a  surgeon  of  the  expedition  pro- 
nounced to  be  the  thigh  bone  of  a  human  being.  The  Indians 
claimed  that  the  bones  they  had  found  were  those  of  a  person 
belonging  to  a  race  of  people  who  a  long  time  ago  lived  in  this 
country :  That  there  was  once  a  race  of  men  on  the  earth  whose 
size  was  about  three  times  that  of  an  ordinary  man,  and  they 
were  so  swift  and  powerful  that  they  could  run  alongside  of  a 
buffalo,  and  taking  the  animal  in  one  arm  could  tear  off  a  leg  and 
eat  the  meat  as  they  walked.  These  giants  denied  the  existence 
of  a  Great  Spirit,  and  when  they  heard  the  thunder  or  saw  the 
lightning  they  laughed  at  it  and  said  they  were  greater  than 
either.  This  so  displeased  the  'Great  Spirit  that  he  caused  a 
great  rain  storm  to  come,  and  the  water  kept  rising  higher  and 
higher  so  that  it  drove  those  proud  and  conceited  giants  from  the 
low  grounds  to  the  hills,  and  thence  to  the  mountains,  but  at  last 
even  the  mountain  tops  were  submerged,  and  then  those  mam- 
moth men  were  all  drowned.  After  the  flood  had  subsided,  the 
Great  Spirit  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  made  man  too 
large  and  powerful,  and  that  he  would  therefore  correct  the  mis- 
take by  creating  a  race  of  men  of  smaller  size  and  less  strength. 
This  is  the  reason,  say  the  Indians,  that  modern  men  are  small 
and  not  like  the  giants  of  old,  and  they  claim  that  this  story  is  a 
matter  of  Indian  history,  which  has  been  handed  down  among 
them  from  time  immemorial. 

As  we  had  no  wagons  with  us  at  the  time  this  large  and  heavy 
bone  was  found,  we  were  obliged  to  leave  it. 

38 


594 


STORY  OP  THE   WILD  WEST 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


SOME    PLEASING   NOVELTIES. 

EMAINING  at  Fort  Sedgwick  during  the  win- 
ter, early  in  the  following  spring  I  returned 
to  Fort  McPherson  under  orders  to  report  to 
Major-General  Emory,  of  the  Fifth  Cav- 
alry, who  had  been  appointed  commandant 
of  the   district  of  the  Eepublican,    with 
headquarters  at  that  post. 

As  the  command  had  been  continually 
in  the  field,  it  was  generally  thought  that 
we  were  to  have  a  long  rest;  and  it 
looked  as  if  this  post  was  to  be  my  home 
and  headquarters  for  some  time  to  come.  I  accordingly  sent  to 
St.  Louis  for  iny  wife  and  daughter  to  join  me  there.  General 
Emory  promised  to  build  a  house  for  me,  but  before  the  building 
was  completed  my  family  arrived. 

During  the  fall  of  1869  there  were  two  or  three  scouting  expe- 
ditions sent  out ;  but  nothing  of  very  great  importance  was  ac- 
complished by  them.  I  found  Fort  McPherson  to  be  a  lively 
and  pleasant  post  to  be  stationed  at,  especially  as  there  was 
plenty  of  game  in  the  vicinity,  and  within  a  day's  ride  there  were 
large  herds  of  deer,  antelope  and  elk. 

During  the  winter  of  1869-70  I  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in 
pursuit  of  game,  and  during  the  season  We  had  two  hunting  par- 
ties of  Englishmen  there ;  one  party  being  that  of  Mr.  Flynn, 
and  the  other  that  of  George  Boyd  Houghton,  of  London  —  the 
well-known  caricaturist.  Among  the  amusements  which  I  ar- 
ranged for  the  party's  entertainment  were  several  horse  races, 
in  which,  however,  Tall  Bull  and  Powder  Face  were  invariably 
the  winners,  much  to  my  pro'fit.  Tall  Bull  by  this  time  had  such 
a  reputation  as  a  running  horse,  that  it  was  difficult  to  make  a 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


595 


race  for  him.  I  therefore  had  recourse  to  a  novel  proposition  in 
order  to  run  him  against  a  horse  in  Captain  Spaulding's  company 
of  the  Second  Cavalry. 

This  race  was  an  interesting  affair.  I  made  a  bet  that  Tall 
Bull  would  beat  the  Second  Cavalry  horse  around  a  one  mile 
track,  and  that  during  the  time  he  was  running,  I  would  jump  off 
and  on  the  horse  eight  times.  I  rode  the  horse  bareback,  seized 
his  mane  with  my  left  hand,  rested  my  right  on  his  withers,  and 


ANTELOPE    CHASING. 

.while  he  was  going  at  full  speed,  I  jumped  to  the  ground,  and 
sprang  again  upon  his  back,  eight  times  in  succession.  Such 
feats  I  had  seen  performed  in  the  circus  and  I  had  practiced  con- 
siderably at  it  with  Tall  Bull,  so  that  I  was  certain  of  winning  the 
race  in  the  manner  agreed  upon. 

IN   PURSUIT    OF    INDIAN    HORSE    THIEVES. 

Early  one  morning,  in  the  spring  of  1870,  the  Indians,  who 
had  approached  during  the  night,  stole  some  twenty-one  head 


,596  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

of  horses  from  Mr.  John  Burke  —  a  government  contractor  — 
Ben  Gallagher  and  Jack  Waite.  They  also  ran  off  some  horses 
from  the  post,  among  the  number  being  my  pony  Powder  Face. 
The  commandant  at  once  ordered  out  Lieutenant  Thomas  with 
Company  I  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  and  directed  me  to  accompany 
them  as  trailer.  We  discovered  the  trail  after  some  little  diffi- 
culty, as  the  Indians  were  continually  trying  to  hide  it,  and  fol- 
lowed it  sixty  miles,  when  darkness  set  in. 

We  were  now  within  about  four  miles  of  Red  Willow  creek 
and  I  felt  confident  the  Indians  would  camp  that  night  in  that 
vicinity.  Advising  Lieutenant  Thomas  to  halt  his  company  and 
"•  lay  low"  I  proceeded  on  to  the  creek,  where  moving  around 
cautiously,  I  suddenly  discovered  horses  feeding  in  a  bend  of  the 
stream  on  the  opposite  side.  I  hurried  back  to  the  troops  with 
the  information,  and  Lieutenant  Thomas  moved  his  company  to 
the  bank  of  the  creek,  with  the  intention  of  remaining  there  un- 
til daylight,  and  then,  if  possible,  surprise  the  Indians. 

Just  at  break  of  day  we  mounted  our  horses,  and  after  riding 
a  short  distance  we  ascended  a  slight  elevation,  when,  not  over 
one  hundred  yards  distant,  we  looked  down  into  the  Indian  camp. 
The  Indians,  preparing  to  make  an  early  start,  had  driven  up 
their  horses  and  were  in  the  act  of  mounting,  when  they  saw  us 
charging  down  upon  them.  In  a  moment  they  sprang  upon  their 
ponies  and  dashed  away.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  creek,  which 
lay  between  us  and  them,  we  would  have  got  them  before  they 
could  have  mounted  their  horses ;  but  as  it  was  rather  miry,  we 
were  unexpectedly  delayed.  The  Indians  fired  some  shots 
at  us  while  we  were  crossing,  but  as  soon  as  we  got  over  we 
went  for  them  in  hot  pursuit.  A  few  of  the  red -skins  had  not 
had  time  to  mount  and  had  started  on  foot  down  the  creek  to- 
wards the  brush.  One  of  these  was  killed. 

TWO    INDIANS   BAGGED    AT   A  SINGLE  SHOT. 

A  number  of  our  soldiers,  who  had  been  detailed  before  the 
charge  to  gather  up  any  of  the  Indian  horses  that  might  be  stam- 
peded, succeeded  in  capturing  thirty-two.  I  hurriedly  looked 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  597 

over  them  to  see  if  Powder  Face  was  among  them ;  but  he  was 
not  there.  Starting  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives  I  finally  espied 
an  Indian  mounted  on  my  favorite,  dashing  away  and  leading  all 
the  others.  We  continued  the  chase  for  two  or  three  miles, 
overtaking  a  couple  who  were  mounted  on  one  horse.  Com- 
ing up  behind  them  I  fired  my  rifle,  when  about  thirty  feet  dis- 
tant; the  ball  passed  through  the  backs  of  both,  and  they  fell 
headlong  to  the  ground;  but  I  made  no  stop  however  just  then, 
for  I  had  my  eye  on  the  gentleman  who  was  riding  Powder  Face. 
It  seemed  to  be  fun  for  him  to  run  away  from  us,  and  run  away  he 
did,  for  the  last  I  saw  of  him  was 
when  he  went  over  a  divide,  about 
three  miles  away.  I  bade  him 
adieu.  On  my  way  back  to  the 
Indian  camp  I  stopped  and  secured 
the  war  bonnets  and  accoutre- 
ments of  the  pair  I  had  killed,  and 
at  the  same  time  gently  "  raised 
their  hair." 

We  were  feeling  rather  tired  and 
hungry,  as  we  had  started  out  on  A  GORT  TROPHY  OF  VICTORY. 
the  trail  thirty-six  hours  before  without  a  breakfast  or  taking 
any  food  with  us;  but  not  a  murmur  or  complaint  was  heard 
among  the  men.  In  the  abandoned  Indian  camp,  however,  we 
found  enough  dried  buffalo  meat  to  give  us  all  a  meal,  and  after 
remaining  there  for  two  hours,  to  rest  our  animals,  we  started  on 
our  return  to  Fort  McPherson,  where  we  arrived  at  night,  having 
traveled  130  miles  in  two  days. 

This  being  the  first  fight  Lieutenant  Thomas  had  ever  com- 
manded in,  he  felt  highly  elated  over  his  success,  and  hoped  that 
his  name  would  be  mentioned  in  the  special  orders  for  gallantry  ; 
sure  enough,  when  we  returned  both  he,  myself  and  the  whole 
command  received  complimentary  mention  in  a  special  order. 
This  he  certainly  deserved  for  he  was  a  brave,  energetic,  dashing 
little  officer.  The  war  bonnets  which  I  had  captured  I  turned 
over  to  General  Carr,  with  the  request  that  he  present  them  to 


598  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

General  Augur,  whose  daughters  were  visiting  af  the  pcet  at  the 
time. 

A  TOUGH  OFFICER. 

Shortly  after  this,  another  expedition  was  organized  at  Fort 
McPherson  for  the  Republican  river  country.  It  was  com' 
manded  by  General  Duncan,  who  was  a  jolly,  blustering  old  fel- 
low, and  the  officers  who  knew  him  well  said  that  we  would  have 
a  good  time,  as  he  was  very  fond  of  hunting.  He  was  a  good 
fighter,  and  one  of  the  officers  said  that  an  Indian  bullet  never 
could  hurt  him,  as  he  had  been  shot  in  the  head  with  a  cannon 
ball  which  had  not  injured  him  in  the  least ;  another  said  the  ball 
glanced  off  and  killed  one  of  the  toughest  mules  in  the  army. 

The  Pawnee  scouts,  who  had  been  mustered  out  of  service  dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1869  and '70  we  reorganized  to  accompany 
this  expedition.  I  was  glad  of  this,  as  I  had  become  quite  at- 
tached to  one  of  the  officers,  Major  North,  and  to  many  of  the 
Indians.  The  only  white  scout  we  had  at  the  post,  besides  my- 
self at  that  time,  was  John  Y.  Nelson,  whose  Indian  name  was 
Sha-Cha-Cha-Opoyeo,*  which  interpreted  means  Ked-Willow- 
Fill-the-Pipe.  This  man  is  a  character  in  his  way;  he  has  a 
Sioux  squaw  for  a  wife,  and  consequently  a  half-breed  family. 

We  started  out  from  the  post  with  the  regimental  band  play- 
ing the  lively  air  of  "  The  Girl  I  Left  Behind  Me."  We  made 
but  a  short  march  that  day,  and  camped  at  night  at  the  head  of 
Fox  creek.  Next  morning  General  Duncan  sent  me  word  by  his 
orderly  that  I  was  to  bring  up  my  gun  and  shoot  at  a  mark  with 
him ;  but  I  can  assure  the  reader  that  I  did  not  feel  much  like 
shooting  anything  except  myself,  for  on  the  night  before  I  had 
returned  to  Fort  McPherson  and  spent  several  hours  in  inter- 
viewing the  sutler's  store  in  company  with  Major  Brown.  1 
looked  around  for  my  gun  and  found  that  I  had  left  it  behind. 
The  last  I  could  remember  about  it  was  that  I  had  it  at  the  sut- 
ler's store.  I  informed  Major  Brown  of  my  loss,  who  said  that 


*  Who  is  still  shooting  Indians  from  the  top  of  the  old  Deadwood  stage 
coach  in  the  Wild  West  show, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  599 

I  was  a  nice  scout  to  start  out  without  a  gun.  I  replied  that  that 
was  not  the  worst  of  it,  as  General  Duncan  had  sent  for  me  to 
shoot  a  match  with  him,  and  I  did  not  know  what  to  do  ;  for  if 
the  old  gentleman  discovered  my  predicament,  he  would  very 
likely  severely  reprimand  me. 

"Well,  Cody,"  said  he,  "the  best  you  can  do  is  to  make 
some  excuse,  and  then  go  and  borrow  a  gun  from  some  of  the 
men,  and  tell  the  General  that  you  lent  yours  to  some  man  to  go 
hunting  with  to-day.  While  we  are  waiting  here,  I  will  send 
back  to  the  post  and  get  your  rifle  for  you/'  I  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  gun  from  John  Nelson,  and  then  marching  up  to 
the  General's  headquarters  I  shot  the  desired  match  with  him, 
which  resulted  in  his  favor. 

This  was  the  first  scout  the  Pawnees  had  been  out  on  under 
command  of  General  Duncan,  and  in  stationing  his  guards 
around  the  camp  he  posted  them  in  a  manner  entirely  different 
from  that  of  General  Carr  and  Colonel  Eoyal,  as  he  insisted 
that  the  different  posts  should  call  out  the  hour  of  the  night 
thus: 

THE  PAWNEE  INDIAN  ON  GUARD  DUTY. 

"  Post  No.  1,  nine  o'clock,  all  is  well!  Post  No.  2,  nine 
o'clock,  all  is  well !  "  etc. 

The  Pawnees,  who  had  their  regular  turns  at  standing  upon 
guard,  were  ordered  to  call  the  hour  the  same  as  the  white  soldiers. 
This  was  very  difficult  for  them  to  do,  as  there  were  but  few  of 
them  who  could  express  themselves  in  English.  Major  North 
explained  to  them  that  when  the  man  on  post  next  to  them  should 
call  out  the  hour,  they  must  call  it  also  as  nearly  like  him  as 
possible.  It  was  very  amusing  to  hear  them  do  this.  They  would 
try  to  remember  what  the  other  man  had  said  on  the  post  next 
to  them.  For  instance,  a  white  soldier  would  call  out:  "  Post 
No.  1,  half-past  nine  o'clock,  all  is  well !  "  The  Indian  standing 
next  to  him  knew  that  he  was  bound  to  say  something  in  English, 
and  he  would  sing  out  something  like  the  following: 

"  Poss  number  half  pass  five  cents — go  to  — —  !  I  don't  care  !  " 

This   system    was   really  so  ridiculous  and  amusing  that  the 


600  STORT   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

General  had  to  give  it  up,  and  the  order  was  accordingly  counter- 
manded. 

Nothing  of  any  great  interest  occurred  on  this  march,  until  one 
day,  while  proceeding  up  Prairie  Dog  creek,*  Major  North  and 
myself  went  out  in  advance  of  the  command  several  miles  and 
killed  a  number  of  buffaloes.  Night  was  approaching,  and  I  be- 
gan to  look  around  for  a  suitable  camping  ground  for  the  com- 
mand. Major  North  dismounted  from  his  horse  and  was  resting, 
while  I  rode  down  to  the  stream  to  see  if  there  was  plenty  of 
grass  in  the  vicinity.  I  found  an  excellent  camping  spot,  and 
returning  to  Major  North  told  him  that  I  would  ride  over  the  hill 
a  little  way,  so  that  the  advance  guard  could  see  me.  This  I  did, 
and  when  the  advance  came  in  sight  I  dismounted  and  laid  down 
upon  the  grass  to  rest. 

A   RED   HOT   SITUATION. 

Suddenly  I  heard  three  or  four  shots,  and  in  a  few  moments 
Major  North  came  dashing  up  towards  me,  pursued  by  eight  or 
ten  Indians.  I  instantly  sprang  into  my  saddle,  and  fired  a  few 
shots  at  the  Indians,  who  by  this  time  had  all  come  in  sight,  to 
the  number  of  fifty.  We  turned  our  horses  and  ran,  the  bullets 
flying  after  us  thick  and  fast  —  my  whip  being  shot  from  my 
hand  and  daylight  being  put  through  the  crown  of  my  hat.  We 
were  in  close  quarters,  when  suddenly  Lieutenant  Valkmar  came 
galloping  up  to  our  relief  with  several  soldiers,  and  the  Indians 
seeing  them  whirled  and  retreated.  As  soon  as  Major  North  gob 
in  sight  of  his  Pawnees,  he  began  riding  in  a  circle.  This  was  a 
sign  to  them  that  there  were  hostile  Indians  in  front,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment the  Pawnees  broke  ranks  pell-mell  and,  with  Major  North 
at  their  head,  started  for  the  flying  warriors.  The  rest  of  the 
command  pushed  rapidly  forward  also,  and  chased  the  enemy  for 
three  or  four  miles,  killing  three  of  them. 

But  this  was  a  wrong  move  on  our  part,  as  their  village  was  on 
Prairie  Dog  creek,  while  they  led  us  in  a  different  direction  ;  one 

*  Near  the  lonely  camp  where  i  had  so  long  been  laid  up  with  a  broken  leg, 
wben  trapping  years  before  with  Dave  Harrington. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


G01 


village 


Indian  only  kept  straight  on  up  the  creek  —  a  messenger  to  the 
Some  of  the  command  who  had  followed  him,  stirre*! 

up  the  village  and 
x :x  xxwxx  v  accelerated     its 
departure.     We 


finally  got  back 
to  the  main  force, 
and  then  learned 
that  we  had  made 
a  great  mistake. 
Now  commenced 
another  stern 
chase. 

The  second 
day  that  we  had 
been  following 
these  Indians  we 
came  upon  an  old 
squaw,  whom 
they  had  left  on 
the  prairie  to  die. 
Her  people  had 
built  for  her  a 
little  shade  or 
lodge,  and  had 
given  her  some 
provisions,  suf- 
ficient to  last  her 
en  her  trip  to  the 
Happy  Hunting 
grounds.  This 
the  Indians  often 
do  when  pursued 

by  an    enemy, 

numtu-M1  DLT^.UC.-  loo  old  and  teeoio  to  travel  any 

This  *quuw  wsu>  recognized  by  John  Neison  who  said  she 


and  OIK 
longer. 


602 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


was  a  relative  of  his  wife.     From  her  we  learned  that  the  flyin^ 
Indians  were  known  as  Pawnee-Killer's  band,  and  that  they  had 


lately  killed  Buck's  surveying  party,  consisting  of  eight  or  nine 
men;   the  massacre  having  occurred  a  few  days  before  on  Beaver 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  60S 

creek.  We  knew  that  they  had  had  a  fight  with  the  surveyors, 
as  we  found  quite  a  number  of  surveying  instruments,  which  had 
been  left  in  the  abandoned  camp.  We  drove  these  Indians 
across  the  Platte  river  and  then  returned  to  Fort  McPherson, 
bringing  the  old  squaw  with  us ;  from  there  she  was  sent  to  the 
Spotted  Tail  agency. 

During  my  absence,  my  wife  had  given  birth  to  a  son,  and  he 
was  several  weeks  old  when  I  returned.  No  name  had  yet  been 
given  to  him  and  I  selected  that  of  Elmo  Judson,  in  honor  of  Ned 
Buntline;  but  this  the  officers  and  scouts  objected  to.  Major 
Brown  proposed  that  we  should  call  him  Kit  Carson,  and  it  was 
finally  settled  that  that  should  be  his  name. 

During  the  summer  we  made  one  or  two  more  scouts  and  had 
a  few  skirmishes  with  the  Indians :  but  nothing  of  any  great  im- 
portance transpired.  In  the  fall  of  1870,  while  I  was  a  witness 
in  a  court-martial  at  Fort  D.  A,  Kussell  I  woke  up  one  morning 
and  found  that  I  was  dead  broke,  —  this  is  not  an  unusual  occur- 
rence to  a  frontiersman,  or  an  author  I  may  add,  especially  when 
he  is  endeavoring  to  kill  time  —  and  to  raise  necessary  funds  I  sold 
my  race-horse  Tall  Bull  to  Lieutenant  Mason,  who  had  long 
wanted  him. 

In  the  winter  of  1870  and  1871  I  first  met  George  Watts  Gar- 
land, an  English  gentleman,  and  a  great  hunter,  whom  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  guiding  on  several  hunts  and  with  whom  I  spent  some 
weeks.  During  the  winter  I  also  took  several  parties  out  on  the 
Loupe  river  country  hunting  and  trapping.  Although  I  was, 
still  chief  of  scouts  I  did  not  have  much  to  do,  as  the  Indians 
were  comparatively  quiet,  thus  giving  me  plenty  of  time  for 
sporting. 

In  the  spring  of  1871  several  short  scouting  expeditions  were 
sent  out  from  Fort  McPherson,  but  all  with  minor  results. 

APPOINTED  JUSTICE  OF    THE  PEACE. 

About  this  time  General  Emory  was  considerably  annoyed  by 
petty  offenses  committed  in  the  vicinity  of  the  post,  and  as  there 
was  no  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  neighborhood,  he  was  anxious 


604  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

to  have  such  an  officer  there  to  attend  to  the  civilians ;  one  day 
he  remarked  to  me  that  I  would  make  an  excellent  justice. 

"  General,  you  compliment  me  rather  too  highly,  for  I  don't 
know  any  more  about  law  than  a  government  mule  does  about 
book-keeping,"  said  I. 

"That  doesn't  make  any  difference,"  said  he,  "  for  I  know 
that  you  will  make  a  good  'Squire."  He  accordingly  had  the 
county  commissioners  appoint  me  to  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  I  soon  received  my  commission. 

One  morning  a  man  came  rushing  up  to  my  house  and  stated 
that  he  wanted  to  get  out  a  writ  of  replevin,  to  recover  posses- 
sion of  a  horse  which  a  stranger  was  taking  out  of  the  country. 
I  had  no  blank  forms,  and  had  not  yet  received  the  statutes  of 
Nebraska  to  copy  from,  so  I  asked  the  man: 

"  Where  is  the  fellow  who  has  got  your  horse?  " 

"  He  is  going  up  the  road,  and  is  about  two  miles  way,"  re- 
plied he. 

"  Very  well,"  said  I,  "  I  will  get  the  writ  ready  in  a  minute 
or  two."  I  saddled  up  my  horse,  and  then  taking  my  old  re- 
liable gun,  "  Lucretia,"  I  said  to  the  man:  "  That's  the  best  writ 
of  replevin  that  I  can  think  of ;  come  along,  and  we'll  get  that 
horse,  or  know  the  reason  why . ' '  We  soon  overtook  the  stranger, 
who  was  driving  a  herd  of  horses,  and  as  we  came  up  to  him, 
I  said:  "  Hello,  sir;  I  am  an  officer,  and  have  an  attachment 
for  that  horse,"  and  at  the  same  time  I  pointed  out  the  animal. 

"  Well,  sir,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  "  he  inquired. 

"  I  propose  to  take  you  and  the  horse  back  to  the  post," 
said  I. 

"  You  can  take  the  horse,"  said  he,  "  but  I  haven't  the  time 
to  return  with  you." 

"  You'll  have  to  take  the  time,  or  pay  the  cost  here  and  now," 
said  I. 

* '  How  much  are  the  costs  ?  ' ' 

"  Twenty  dollars." 

"  Here's  your  money,"  said  he,  as  he  handed  me  the  green- 
backs. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  605 

I  then  gave  him  a  little  friendly  advice  and  told  him  that  he 
was  released  from  custody.  He  went  on  his  way  a  wiser  and  a 
poorer  man,  while  the  owner  of  the  horse  and  myself  returned 
to  the  fort.  I  pocketed  the  twenty  dollars,  of  course.  Some 
people  might  think  it  was  not  a  square  way  of  doing  business, 
but  I  didn't  know  any  better  just  then.  I  had  several  little  cases 
of  this  kind,  and  I  became  better  posted  on  the  law  in  the  course 
of  time,  being  assisted  by  Lieutenant  Burr  Reilly,  of  the  Fifth 
Cavalry,  who  had  been  educated  for  a  lawyer. 

PERFORMING  A  MARRIAGE  CEREMONY. 

One  evening  I  was  called  upon  to  perform  a  marriage  cere- 
mony. The  bridegroom  was  one  of  the  sergeants  of  the  post. 
I  had  fi  braced  up  "  for  the  occasion  by  imbibing  rather  freely 
of  stimulants,  and  when  I  arrived  at  the  house  with  a  copy  of  the 
Statutes  of  Nebraska,  which  I  had  recently  received,  I  felt  some- 
what confused.  Whether  my  bewilderment  was  owing  to  the 
importance  of  the  occasion  and  the  large  assembly,  or  to  the 
effect  of  Louis  Woodin's  "tanglefoot,"  I  cannot  now  distinctly 
remember —  but  my  suspicions  have  always  been  that  it  was  due 
to  the  latter  cause.  I  looked  carefully  through  the  statutes  to 
find  the  marriage  ceremony,  but  my  efforts  were  unsuccessful . 
Finally  the  time  came  for  the  knot  to  be  tied.  I  told  the  couple 
to  stand  up  and  then  I  said  to  the  bridegroom :  * *  Do  you 
take  this  woman  to  be  your  lawful  wedded  wife,  to  support  and 
love  her  through  life  ?' J 

"  I  do,"  was  the  reply. 

Then  addressing  myself  to  the  bride,  I  said:  "  Do  you  take 
this  man  to  be  your  lawful  wedded  husband  through  life,  to  love, 
honor  and  obey  him  ?  " 

"  I  do,"  was  her  response. 

"  Then  join  hands,"  said  I  to  both  of  them ;  "  I  now  pronounce 
you  to  be  man  and  wife,  and  whomsoever  God  and  Buffalo  Bill 
have  joined  together  let  no  man  put  asunder.  May  you  livelong 
and  prosper.  Amen." 

This  concluded  the  interesting  ceremony,  which  was  followed 


606 


STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST 


by  the  usual  festivities  on  such  occasions.  I  was  highly  com- 
plimented for  the  elegant  and  eloquent  manner  in  which  I  had 
tied  the  matrimonial  knot. 

During  the  summer  of  1871,  Professor  Marsh,  of  Yale  College, 
came  out  to  McPherson  with  a  large  party  of  students  to  have 
a  hunt  and  to  look  for  fossils.  Professor  Marsh  had  heard  of 
the  big  bone  which  had  been  found  by  the  Pawnees  in  the  Nio- 
brara  country,  and  he  intended  to  look  for  that  as  well  as  other 
bones.  He 


accord- 
ingly  s  e- 
cured  the 
s  er vices 
of  Major 
F.  North 
a  n  d  t  h  e 
Paw  nees 
as  an 
escort.  I 
was  also 
to  a  c  - 
company 
the  bone- 
hunters, 
and  would 

have  done  PERFORMING  A  MARRIAGE  CEREMONY. 

so  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  just  at  that  time  I  was  ordered 
out  with  a  small  scouting  party  to  go  after  some  Indians. 

A    RUN   FOR    OUR   LIVES. 

The  day  before  the  Professor  arrived  at  the  fort  I  had  been 
out  hunting  on  the  north  side  of  the  North  Platte  river,  near 
Pawnee  Springs,  with  several  companions,  when  we  were  sud- 
denly attacked  by  Indians,  who  wounded  one  of  our  number, 
John  Weister.  We  stood  the  Indians  off  for  a  little  while,  and 
Weister  got  even  with  them  by  killing  one  of  their  partv 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  607 

The  Indians,  however,  outnumbered  us,  and  at  last  we  were 
forced  to  make  a  run  for  our  lives.  In  this  we  succeeded  and 
reached  the  fort  in  safety.  The  General  wanted  to  have  the 
Indians  pursued  and  said  he  could  not  spare  me  to  accompany 
Professor  Marsh. 

However,  I  had  the  opportunity  to  make  the  acquaintance  of 
the  eminent  Professor,  whom  I  found  to  be  not  only  a  well- 
posted  person,  but  a  very  entertaining  gentleman.  He  gave  me 
a  geological  history  of  the  country,  told  me  in  what  section  fos- 
sils were  to  be  found,  and  otherwise  entertained  me  with  several 
scientific  yarns,  some  of  which  seemed  too  complicated  and  too 
mysterious  to  be  believed  by  an  ordinary  man  like  myself;  but 
it  was  all  clear  to  him*  I  rode  out  with  him  several  miles ,  as  he 
was  starting  on  his  bone-hunting  expedition,  and  I  greatly  en- 
joyed the  trip.  His  party  had  been  provided  with  government 
transportation  and  his  students  were  all  mounted  on  government 
horses.  As  we  rode  along  he  delivered  a  scientific  lecture  and  he 
convinced  me  that  he  knew  what  he  was  talking  about.  I  finally 
bade  him  good-bye  and  returned  to  the  post.  While  the  fossil- 
hunters  were  out  on  their  expedition  we  had  several  lively  little 
skirmishes  with  the  Indians.  After  having  been  absent  some 
little  time  Professor  Marsh  and  his  party  came  back  with  their 
wagons  loaded  down  with  all  kinds  of  bones  and  the  Professor 
was  in  his  glory.  He  had  evidently  struck  a  bone-yard,  and 
61  gad !  "*  wasn't  he  happy !  But  they  had  failed  to  find  the  big 
bone  which  the  Pawnees  had  unearthed  the  year  before. 


*  A  tavorite  expression  of  the  Professor's. 


608 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

HELPING   TO    ENTERTAIN    A    DISTINGUISHED    PARTY. 

OST    McPHERSON  was  in  the  center 
of    a    fine    game    country,    in    which 
buffalo  were  particularly  plentiful,  and 
though  fairly  surrounded  by  hostile  In- 
dians, it  offered  so  many  attractions  for 
sportsmen  that  several  hunting  parties 
braved  the  dangers  for  the  pleasure  of 
buffalo-chasing.     In  September,  1871,  General 
Sheridan  brought  a  number  of  friends  out  to  the 
post  for  a  grand  hunt,  coming  by  way  of  North 
Platte  in  a  special  car,  and  t>encc  by  govern- 
ment   wagons   to   the    fort,    which    was    only 
eighteen  miles  from  that  station. 

The  party  consisted  of  General  Sheridan,  Law- 
rence R.  Jerome,  James  Gordon  Bennett,  of  the 
New  York  Herald;  Leonard  W.  Jerome,  Carroll 
Livingston,  Major  J.  G.  Hecksher,  General  Fitz- 
hugh,  General  H.  E.  Davies,  Captain  M.  Edward 
Rogers,  Colonel  J.  Schuyler  Crosby,  Samuel  John- 
son, General  Anson  Stager,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company;  Charles  Wilson,  editor  of  the  Chicago  Evening  Jour- 
nal; General  Rucker,  Quartermaster-General,  and  Dr.  Asch  — 
the  two  last  named  being  of  General  Sheridan's  staff.  They 
were  met  at  the  station  by  General  Emory  and  Major  Brown, 
with  a  cavalry  company  as  escort  and  a  sufficient  number  of 
vehicles  to  carry  the  distinguished  visitors  and  their  baggage. 

A  brisk  drive  of  less  than  two  hours  over  a  hard  and  smooth 
road  brought  them  to  the  fort,  where  they  found  the  garrison, 
consisting  of  five  companies  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  under  the 
command  of  General  Carr,  out  on  parade  awaiting  their  arrival. 


5 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  609 

The  band  played  some  martial  music,  and  the  cavalry  passed 
very  handsomely  in  review  before  General  Sheridan.  The  guests 
were  then  most  hospitably  received,  and  assigned  to  comfortable 
quarters. 

Lieutenant  Hayes,  the  quartermaster  of  the  expedition,  ar- 
ranged everything  for  the  comfort  of  the  party.  One  hundred 
cavalry  under  command  of  Major  Brown  were  detailed  as  an 
escort.  A  train  of  sixteen  wagons  was  provided  to  carry  the 
baggage,  supplies,  and  forage  for  the  trip;  and,  besides  these, 
there  were  three  four-horse  ambulances  in  which  the  guns  were 
carried,  and  in  which  members  of  the  party  who  became  weary 
of  the  saddle  might  ride  and  rest.  At  General  Sheridan's  re- 
quest I  was  to  accompany  the  expedition;  he  introduced  me  to 
all  his  friends,  and  gave  me  a  good  send-off. 

During  the  afternoon  and  evening  the  gentlemen  were  all  en- 
tertained at  the  post  in  a  variety  of  ways,  including  dinner  and 
supper  parties,,  anc^ music  and  dancing;  at  a  late  hour  they  re- 
tired to  rest  in  their  tents  at  the  camp  which  they  occupied  out- 
side the  post  —  named  Camp  Rucker,  in  honor  of  General 
Rucker. 

PUTTING    ON   A   LITTLE    STYLE   FOR   THE   OCCASION. 

At  five  o'clock  next  morning  a  cavalry  bugle  sounded  the 
reveille,  and  soon  all  were  astir  in  the  camp,  preparatory  to  pull- 
ing out  for  the  first  day's  march.  I  rose  fresh  and  eager  for  the 
trip,  and  as  it  was  a  nobby  and  high-toned  outfit  which  I  was  to 
accompany,  I  determined  to  put  on  a  little  style  myself.  So  I 
dressed  in  a  new  suit  of  light  buckskin,  trimmed  along  the  seams 
with  fringes  of  the  same  material ;  and  I  put  on  a  crimson  shirt 
handsomely  ornamented  on  the  bosom,  while  on  my  head  I  wore 
a  broad  sombrero .  Then  mounting  a  snowy  white  horse  —  a  gal- 
lant stepper  —  I  rode  down  from  the  fort  to  the  camp,  rifle  in 
hand.  I  felt  first-rate  that  morning,  and  looked  well. 

The  expedition  was  soon  under  way.  Our  road  for  ten  miles 
wound  through  a  wooded  ravine  called  Cottonwood  canon,  inter- 
secting the  high  ground,  or  divide,  as  it  is  called,  between  the 


610  STORT   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Platte  and  Republican  rivers.  Upon  emerging  from  the  canon 
we  found  ourselves  upon  the  plains.  First  in  the  line  rode  Gen- 
eral Sheridan,  followed  by  his  guests,  and  then  the  orderlies. 
Then  came  the  ambulances,  in  one  of  which  were  carried  five 
greyhounds,  brought  along  to  course  the  antelope  and  rabbit. 
With  the  ambulances  marched  a  pair  of  Indian  ponies  belonging 
to  Lieutenant  Hayes  —  captured  during  some  Indian  fight  —  and 
harnessed  to  a  light  wagon,  which  General  Sheridan  occasionally 
used.  These  little  horses,  but  thirteen  hands  high,  showed  more 
vigor  and  endurance  than  any  other  of  the  animals  we  had  with 
us.  Following  the  ambulances  came  the  main  body  of  the  escort 
and  the  supply  wagons. 

We  marched  seventeen  miles  the  first  day,  and  went  into  camp 
on  Fox  creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Republican.  No  hunting  had 
as  yet  been  done ;  but  I  informed  the  gentlemen  of  the  party 
that  we  would  strike  the  buffalo  country  the  next  day.  A  hun- 
dred or  more  questions  were  then  asked  me  by  this  one  and  that 
one,  and  the  whole  evening  was  spent  principally  in  buffalo  talk, 
sandwiched  with  stories  of  the  plains  —  both  of  war  and  of  the 
chase.  Several  of  the  party,  who  were  good  vocalists,  gave  us 
some  excellent  music.  We  closed  the  evening  by  christening  the 
camp,  naming  it  Camp  Brown,  in  honor  of  the  gallant  officer  in 
command  of  the  escort. 

At  three  o'clock  next  morning  the  bugle  called  us  to  an  early 
start.  We  had  breakfast  at  half -past  four,  and  at  six  were  in 
the  saddle.  All  were  eager  to  see  and  shoot  the  buffaloes, 
which  I  assured  them  we  would  certainly  meet  during  the  day. 
After  marching  five  miles,  the  advance  guard,  of  which  I  had 
the  command,  discovered  six  buffaloes  grazing  at  a  distance  of 
about  two  miles  from  us.  We  returned  to  the  hunters  with  this 
information,  and  they  at  once  consulted  with  me  as  to  the  best 
way  to  attack  the  "  enemy." 

AN   ATTACK   ON   THE    BUFFALOES. 

Acting  upon  my  suggestions,  Fitzhugh,  Crosby,  Lawrence 
Jerome,  Livingston,  Hecksher  and  Rogers,  accompanied  by  my- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO   BILL. 


611 


self  as  guide,  rode  through  a  convenient  canon  to  a  point  beyond 
the  buffaloes,  so  that  we  were  to  the  windward  of  the  animals. 
The  rest  of  the  party  made  a  detour  of  nearly  five  miles,  keep- 
ing behind  the  crest  of  a  hill.  We  charged  down  upon  the  buf- 
faloes at  full  gallop,  and  just  then  the  other  party  emerged 
from  their  concealment  and  witnessed  the  exciting  chase.  The 
buffaloes  started  off  in  a  line,  single  file.  Fitzhugh,  after  a 
lively  gallop,  led  us  all  and  soon  came  alongside  the  rear  buffalo, 
at  which  he  fired.  The  ani- 
mal faltered,  and  then  with 
another  shot  Fitzhugh  brought 
him  to  the  ground.  Crosby 
dashed  by  him  and  leveled  an- 
other of  the  herd,  while 
Livingston  dropped  a  third. 
Those  who  were  not  directly 
engaged  in  the  hunt  now  came 
up  and  congratulated  the  men 
upon  their  success,  and  Fitz- 
hugh was  at  once  hailed  as  the 
winner  of  the  buffalo-cup, 
while  all  sympathized  with 
Hecksher,  whose  chance  had 
been  the  best  at  the  start,  but 
who  lost  by  reason  of  his 
horse  falling  and  rolling  over 
him. 

The  hunt  being  over,  the  column  moved  forward  on  its  march, 
passing  through  a  prairie-dog  town,  several  miles  in  extent. 
These  animals  are  found  throughout  the  plains,  living  together 
in  a  sort  of  society ;  their  numberless  burrows  in  their  "  towns  " 
adjoin  each  other,  so  that  great  care  is  necessary  in  riding 
through  these  places,  as  the  ground  is  so  undermined  as  often  to 
fall  in  under  the  weight  of  a  horse.  Around  the  entrance  to 
their  holes  the  ground  is  piled  up  almost  a  foot  high;  on  these 
little  elevations  the  prairie-dogs  sit  upon  their  hind  legs,  chatter- 


A    PRAIRIE-DOG    VILLAGE. 


612  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

ing  to  each  other  and  observing  whatever  passes  on  the  plains. 
They  will  permit  a  person  to  approach  quite  near,  but -when  they 
have  viewed  him  closely,  they  dive  into  their  dens  with  wonder- 
ful quickness.  They  are  difficult  to  kill,  and  if  hit  generally 
succeed  in  crawling  underground  before  they  can  be  captured. 
Rattlesnakes  and  small  owls  are  generally  found  in  great  num- 
bers in  the  prairie-dog  towns,  and  live  in  the  same  holes  with 
the  dogs  on  friendly  terms.  A  few  of  the  prairie  dogs  were 
killed,  and  were  found  to  be  very  palatable  eating. 

A  short  distance  beyond  the  dog  town  we  discovered  a  settle- 
ment of  five  white  men,  who  proved  to  be  the  Clifford  brothers, 
Arthur  Ruff,  Dick  Seymour  and  John  Nelson  —  the  latter  already 
referred  to  in  these  pages.  Each  of  them  had  a  squaw  wife  and 
numerous  half-breed  children,  living  in  tents  of  buffalo  skins. 
They  owned  a  herd  of  horses  and  mules  and  a  few  cattle,  and 
had  cultivated  a  small  piece  of  land.  Their  principal  occupation 
was  hunting,  and  they  had  a  large  number  of  buffalo  hides,  which 
they  had  tanned  in  the  Indian  manner. 

Upon  reaching  Pleasant  Valley,  on  Medicine  creek,  our  party 
divided  into  two  detachments  —  one  hunting  along  the  bank  of  the 
stream  for  elk  or  deer,  and  the  other  remaining  with  the  main 
body  of  the  escort.  The  elk  hunters  met  with  no  success  what- 
ever, but  the  others  ran  across  plenty  of  buffaloes,  and  nearly 
everybody  killed  one  or  more  before  the  day  was  over.  Law- 
rence Jerome  made  an  excellent  shot ;  while  riding  in  an  ambu- 
lance he  killed  a  buffalo  which  attempted  to  cross  the  line  of 
march.  About  four  o'clock  p.  M.,  we  arrived  at  Mitchell's  fork 
of  the  Medicine,  having  traveled  thirty-five  miles  during  that  day, 
and  there  we  went  into  camp  —  calling  it  Camp  Jack  Hayes,  in 
honor  of  Lieutenant  Hayes. 

On  the  next  morning,  the  25th,  we  moved  out  of  camp  at 
eight  o'clock.  The  party  was  very  successful  through  the  day  in 
securing  game,  Hecksher,  Fitzhugh,  Livingston  and  Lieutenant 
Hayes,  and  in  fact  all,  doing  good  shooting. 

Lawrence  Jerome  persuaded  me  to  let  him  ride  Buckskin  Joe, 
the  best  buffalo  horse  in  the  whole  outfit,  and  on  his  back  he  did 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL, 


613 


wonders  among  the  buffaloes.  Leonard  Jerome,  Bennett  and 
Kogers  also  were  very  successful  in  buffalo  hunting.  Our  camp 
of  this  night  was  named  Camp  Asch  to  commemorate  our  sur- 
<*eon,  Dr.  Asch.  The  evening  was  pleasantly  spent  around  the 
camp  fires  in  relating  the  adventures  of  the  day. 

LEONARD  JEROME'S   PREDICAMENT. 

Upon  crossing  the  [Republican  river  on  the  morning  of  the 
26th,  we  came  upon  an  immense  number  of  buffaloes  scattered 
over  the  country  in  every  direction,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach, 
and  all  had  an  opportunity  to  do  as  much  hunting  as  they  wished. 
The  wagons  and  troops  moved  slowly  along  in  the  direction  of 
the  next  camp,  while  the  hunters  went  off  separately,  or  by  twos 
and  threes,  in  different  directions,  and  all  were  rewarded  with 
abundant  success.  Lawrence  Jerome,  however,  had  his  career 
suddenly  checked.  He  had  dismounted  to  make  a  steady  and 
careful  shot,  and  thoughtlessly  let  go  of  the  bridle.  The  buffalo 
failing  to  take  a  tumble,  as  he  ought  to  have  done,  started  off  at 
a  lively  gait,  followed  by  Buckskin  Joe,  the  horse  being  de- 
termined to  do  some  hunting  on  his  own  account ;  the  last  seen 
of  him,  he  was  a  little  ahead  of  the  buffalo,  and  gaining  slightly, 
leaving  his  late  rider  to  his  own  reflections  and  the  prospect  of  a 
tramp;  his  desolate  condition  was  soon  discovered  and  another 
horse,  warranted  not  to  run  under  any  provocation,  was  sent  to 
him.  It  may  be  stated  here  that  three  days  afterwards,  as  I 
subsequently  learned,  Buckskin  Joe,  all  saddled  and  bridled, 
turned  up  at  Fort  McPherson. 

We  pitched  our  tents  for  the  night  in  a  charming  spot  on  the 
bank  of  Beaver  creek.  The  game  was  so  abundant  that  we  re- 
mained there  one  day.  This  stopping  place  was  called  Camp 
Cody,  in  honor  of  the  reader's  humble  servant.  The  next  day 
was  spent  in  hunting  jack-rabbits,  coyotes,  elks,  antelopes  and 
wild  turkeys,  and  in  the  afternoon  we  sat  down  to  the  finest  din- 
ner ever  spread  on  the  plains. 

CHARGED  WITH  A  HEINOUS  OFFENSE. 

In  the  evening  a  court-martial  was  held,  at  which  I  presided 
as  chief  justice.  We  tried  one  of  the  gentlemen  for  aiding  and 


614  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

abetting  in  the  loss  of  a  government  horse,  and  for  having 
something  to  do  with  the  mysterious  disappearance  of  a  Colt's 
pistol.  He  was  charged  also  with  snoring  in  a  manner  that  was 
regarded  as  fiendish,  and  with  committing  a  variety  of  other  less 
offenses  too  numerous  to  mention. 

The  accused  made  a  feeble  defense  as  to  the  pistol,  and 
claimed  that  instead  of  losing  a  government  horse,  the  fact  was 
that  the  horse  had  lost  him.  His  statements  were  all  regarded 
as  "  too  thin,"  and  finally  failing  to  prove  good  character,  he 
confessed  all,  and  threw  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  the  court. 
The  culprit  was  Lawrence  Jerome. 

As  chiof  justice  I  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court,  which 
my  modesty  does  not  prevent  me  from  saying  was  done  in  an 
able  and  dignified  manner ;  as  an  act  of  clemency  I  suspended 
judgment  for  the  time  being,  remarking  that  while  the  camp- 
fire  held  out  to  burn,  the  vilest  sinner  might  return;  and  in  hope 
of  the  accused's  amendment,  I  would  defer  pronouncing  sen- 
tence. The  trial  afforded  us  considerable  amusement,  and  gave 
me  a  splendid  opportunity  to  display  the  legal  knowledge  which 
I  had  acquired  while  acting  as  justice  of  the  peace  at  Fort  Mc- 
Pherson. 

On  the  morning  of  the  28th  the  command  crossed  the  South 
Beaver,  distant  nine  miles  from  Camp  Cody,  and  then  striking  a 
fair  road  we  made  a  rapid  march  until  we  reached  our  camp  on 
Short  Nose  or  Prairie  Dog  creek,  about  2  P.  M.,  after  having 
made  twenty-four  miles.  The  remainder  of  the  afternoon  was 
spent  in  hunting  buffaloes  and  turkeys.  Camp  Stager  was  the 
name  given  to  this  place,  in  honor  of  General  Stager,  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 

STILL  PURSUING  THE  ENEMY. 

The  next  day  we  made  a  march  of  twenty-four  miles,  and 
then  halted  at  about  1  p.  M.  on  the  North  Solomon  river.  This 
day  we  killed  three  buffaloes,  two  antelopes,  two  raccoons,  and 
three  teal  ducks.  Near  our  camp,  which  we  named  Camp  Leo- 
nard Jerome,  was  a  beaver  dam  some  six  feet  high  and  twenty 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  615 

yards  wide ;  it  was  near  the  junction  of  two  streams,  and  formed 
a  pond  of  at  least  four  acres. 

On  the  30th  we  traveled  twenty-five  miles,  and  during  the 
march  nine  turkeys,  two  rabbits,  and  three  or  four  buffaloes 
were  killed.  We  went  into  camp  on  the  bank  of  the  South 
fork  of  the  Solomon  river,  and  called  the  place  Camp  Sam 
Johnson.  We  were  now  but  forty-five  miles  from  Fort  Hays, 
the  point  at  which  General  Sheridan  and  his  guests  expected  to 
strike  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway  and  thence  return  home. 
That  evening  I  volunteered  to  ride  to  Fort  Hays  and  meet  the 
party  next  day  bringing  with  me  all  the  letters  that  might 
be  at  the  post.  Taking  the  best  horse  in  the  command  I  started 
out,  expecting  to  make  the  trip  in  about  four  hours. 

The  next  morning  the  command  got  an  early  start  and  trav- 
eled thirty  miles  to  Saline  river,  where  they  made  their  last 
camp  on  the  plains.  As  some  of  the  party  were  attacking  a  herd 
of  buffaloes,  I  rode  in  from  Fort  Hays  and  got  into  the  middle 
of  the  herd,  and  killed  a  buffalo  or  two  before  the  hunters  ob- 
served me.  I  brought  a  large  number  of  letters,  which  proved 
welcome  reading  matter. 

CAMP-FIRE    CHATS. 

In  the  evening  we  gathered  around  the  camp-fire  for  the  last 
time.  The  duty  of  naming  the  camp,  which  was  called  Camp 
Davies,  having  been  duly  performed,  we  all  united  in  making 
that  night  the  pleasantest  of  all  that  we  had  spent  together.  We 
had  eloquent  speeches,  songs,  and  interesting  anecdotes.  I  was 
called  upon,  and  entertained  the  gentlemen  with  some  lively  In- 
dian stories. 

The  excursionists  reached  Fort  Hays,  distant  fifteen  miles,  on 
the  morning  of  October  2d,  where  we  pitched  our  tents  for  the 
last  time,  and  named  the  camp  in  honor  of  Mr.  Hecksher.  That 
same  afternoon  General  Sheridan  and  his  guests  took  the  train 
for  the  East,  after  bidding  Major  Brown,  Lieutenant  Hayes  and 
myself  a  hearty  good-bye,  and  expressing  themselves  as  greatly 
pleased  with  their  hunt,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  had  been 
escorted  and  guided. 


616  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

It  will  be  proper  and  fair  to  state  here  that  General  Daviea 
afterwards  wrote  an  interesting  account  of  this  hunt  and  pub- 
lished it  in  a  neat  volume  of  sixty-eight  pages,  under  the  title  of 
"  Ten  Days  on  the  Plains."  I  would  have  inserted  the  volume 
bodily  in  this  book,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  General  has 
spoken  in  a  rather  too  complimentary  manner  of  me.  However, 
I  have  taken  the  liberty  in  this  chapter  to  condense  from  the 


AROUND   THE    CAMP-FIRE. 

/ittle  volume,  and  in  some  places  I  have  used  the  identical  lan- 
guage of  General  Davies  without  quoting  the  same ;  in  fact,  to 
do  the  General  justice,  I  ought  to  close  this  chapter  with  several 
lines  of  quotation  marks  to  be  pretty  generally  distributed  by 
the  reader  throughout  my  account  of  our  ten  days'  hunt. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  General  Sheridan's  party,  we  re- 
turned to  Fort  McPherson  and  found  General  Carr   about  to 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  617 

start  out  on  a  twenty  days*  scout,  not  so  much  for  the  purpose 
of  finding  Indians,  but  more  for  the  object  of  taking  some  friends 
on  a  hunt.  His  guests  were  a  couple  of  Englishmen,  —  whose 
names  I  cannot  now  remember  —  and  Mr.  McCarthy,  of  Syra- 
cuse, New  York,  who  was  a  relative  of  General  Emory.  The 
command  consisted  of  three  companies  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  one 
company  of  Pawnee  Indians,  and  twenty-five  wagons.  Of  course 
I  was  called  on  to  accompany  the  expedition. 

A    LITTLE   JOKE    ON  M'CARTHY. 

One  day,  after  we  had  been  out  from  the  post  for  some  little 
time,  I  was  hunting  on  Deer  creek,  in  company  with  Mr.  Mc- 
Carthy, about  eight  miles  from  the  command.  1  had  been  wish- 
ing for  several  days  to  play  a  joke  on  him,  and  had  arranged  a 
plan  with  Captain  Lute  North  to  carry  it  into  execution.  I  had 
informed  North  at  about  what  time  we  would  be  on  Deer  creek, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  he  should  appear  in  the  vicinity  with 
some  of  his  Pawnees,  who  were  to  throw  their  blankets  around 
them,  and  come  dashing  down  upon  us,  firing  and  whooping  in 
true  Indian  style,  while  he  was  to  either  conceal  or  disguise  him- 
self. This  programme  was  faithfully  and  completely  carried  out. 
I  had  been  talking  about  Indians  to  McCarthy,  and  he  had  be- 
come considerably  excited,  when  just  as  we  turned  a  bend  of  the 
creek,  we  saw  not  half  a  mile  from  us  about  twenty  Indians,  who 
instantly  started  for  us  on  a  gallop,  firing  their  guns  and  yelling 
at  the  top  of  their  voices. 

"  McCarthy,  shall  we  dismount  and  fight,  or  run??J  said  I. 

He  didn't  wait  to  reply,  but  wheeling  his  horse,  started  at  full 
speed  down  the  creek,  losing  his  hat  and  dropping  his  gun ;  away 
he  went,  never  once  looking  back  to  see  if  he  was  being  pur  sued. 
I  tried  to  stop  him  by  yelling  at  him  and  saying  that  it  was  all 
right,  as  the  Indians  were  Pawnees.  Unfortunately  he  did  not 
hear  me,  but  kept  straight  on,  not  stopping  his  horse  until  he 
reached  the  camp. 

I  knew  that  he  would  tell  General  Carr  that  the  Indians  had 
jumped  him,  and  that  the  General  would  soon  start  out  with  the 


618  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

troops.  So  as  quick  as  the  Pawnees  rode  up  to  me  I  told  them  to 
remain  there  while  I  went  after  my  friend.  I  rode  after  him  a& 
fast  as  possible,  but  he  had  arrived  at  the  command  some  time 
before  me  and  when  I  got  there  the  General  had,  as  I  had  sus- 
pected he  would  do,  ordered  out  two  companies  of  cavalry  to  go 
in  pursuit  of  the  Indians.  I  told  the  General  that  the  Indians 
were  only  some  Pawnees,  who  had  been  out  hunting  and  that  they 
had  merely  played  a  joke  upon  us.  I  forgot  to  inform  him  that  I 


NO  TIME  FOR  LOOKING  BACK. 

had  put  up  the  trick,  but  as  he  was  always  fond  of  a  good  joke 
himself,  he  did  not  get  very  angry.  I  had  picked  up  McCarthy's 
hat  and  gun  which  I  returned  to  him,  and  it  was  some  time  after- 
wards before  he  discovered  who  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  affair. 

REMAINS    OF   THE   MURDERED  BUCK  PARTY. 

When  we  returned  to  Fort  McPherson  we  found  there  Mr* 
Royal  Buck,  whose  father  had  been  killed  with  his  entire  party 
by  Pawnee  Killer's  band  of  Indians  on  the  Beaver  creek.  He 
had  a  letter  from  the  commanding  officer  of  the  department  re- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  619 

questing  that  he  be  furnished  with  an  escort  to  go  in  search  of 
the  remains  of  his  father  and  the  party.  Two  companies  of 
cavalry  were  sent  with  him  and  I  accompanied  them  as  a  guide. 
As  the  old  squaw,  which  we  had  captured,  and  of  which  mention 
is  made  in  a  previous  chapter,  could  not  exactly  tell  us  the  place 
on  Beaver  creek  where  the  party  had  been  killed,  we  searched 
the  country  over  for  two  days  and  discovered  no  signs  of  the 
murdered  men.  At  last,  however,  our  efforts  were  rewarded 
with  success.  We  found  pieces  of  their  wagons  and  among  other 
things  an  old  letter  or  two  which  Mr.  Buck  recognized  as  his 
father's  handwriting.  We  then  discovered  some  of  the  remains, 
which  we  buried;  but  nothing  further.  It  was  now  getting  late 
in  the  fall  and  we  accordingly  returned  to  Fort  McPherson. 

A  short  time  after  this  the  Fifth  Cavalry  was  ordered  to 
Arizona,  a  not  very  desirable  country  to  soldier  in.  I  had  become 
greatly  attached  to  the  officers  of  the  regiment,  having  been 
continually  with  them  for  over  three  years,  and  had  about  made 
up  my  mind  to  accompany  them,  when  a  letter  was  received  from 
General  Sheridan  instructing  the  commanding  officer  "not  to 
take  Cody"  with  him,  and  saying  that  I  was  to  remain  in  my 
old  position.  In  a  few  days  the  command  left  for  its  destina- 
tion, taking  the  cars  at  McPherson  Station,  where  I  bade  my  old 
friends  adieu.  During  the  next  few  weeks  I  had  but  little  to  do, 
as  the  post  was  garrisoned  by  infantry,  awaiting  the  arrival  of 
the  Third  Cavalry. 

HUNTING  WITH  A  GRAND  DUKE. 

About  the  first  of  January,  1872,  General  Forsyth  and  Dr.  Asch, 
of  Sheridan's  staff  came  out  to  Fort  McPherson  to  make  prepara- 
tions for  a  big  buffalo  hunt  for  the  Grand  Duke  Alexis,  of  Kussia; 
and  as  this  was  to  be  no  ordinary  affair,  these  officers  had  been  sent 
by  General  Sheridan  to  have  all  the  necessary  arrangements  per- 
fected by  the  time  the  Grand  Duke  should  arrive.  They  learned 
from  me  that  there  were  plenty  of  buffaloes  in  the  vicinity, 
and  especially  on  the  Red  Willow,  sixty  miles  distant.  They  said 
they  would  like  to  go  over  on  the  Red  Willow  and  pick  out  a 


620  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

suitable  place  for  the  camp;  they  also  inquired  the  location  of 
the  camp  of  Spotted  Tail,  chief  of  the  Sioux  Indians.  Spotted 
Tail  had  permission  from  the  Government  to  hunt  the  buffalo 
with  his  people  during  the  winter,  in  the  Republican  river  coun- 
try. It  was  my  opinion  that  they  were  located  somewhere  on  the 
Frenchman's  fork,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Fort 
McPherson. 

General  Sheridan's  commissioner  informed  me  that  he  wished 
me  to  visit  Spotted  Tail's  camp,  and  induce  about  one  hundred 
of  the  leading  warriors  and  chiefs  to  come  to  the  point  where  it 
should  be  decided  to  locate  the  Alexis  hunting  camp,  and  to  be 
there  by  the  time  the  Grand  Duke  should  arrive,  so  that  he  could 
see  a  body  of  American  Indians  and  observe  the  manner  in  which 
they  killed  buffaloes.  The  Indians  would  also  be  called  upon  tc 
give  a  grand  war  dance  in  honor  of  the  distinguished  visitor. 

Next  morning  General  Forsyth  and  Dr.  Asch,  accompanied  by 
Captain  Hays,  who  had  been  left  at  Fort  McPherson  in  charge  of 
the  Fifth  Cavalry  horses,  taking  an  ambulance  and  a  light  wagon, 
to  carry  their  tents  and  provisions  sufficient  to  last  them  two  or 
three  days,  started,  under  my  guidance,  with  a  small  escort,  foi 
Red  Willow  creek,  arriving  there  at  night.  The  next  day  we 
selected  a  pleasant  camping  place  on  a  little  knoll  in  the  valley 
of  the  Red  Willow.  General  Forsyth  and  his  party  returned  to 
the  post  the  next  day  while  I  left  for  Spotted  Tail's  camp. 

The  weather  was  very  cold  and  I  found  my  journey  by  no 
means  a  pleasant  one  as  I  was  obliged  to  camp  out  with  only  mj 
saddle-blankets  ;  and  besides,  there  was  more  or  less  danger  frorr 
the  Indians  themselves  ;  for,  although  Spotted  Tail  himself  wa* 
friendly,  I  was  afraid  I  might  have  difficulty  in  getting  into  hi? 
camp.  I  was  liable  at  any  moment  to  run  into  a  party  of  hi? 
young  men  who  might  be  out  hunting,  and  as  I  had  many  enemies 
among  the  Sioux,  I  would  be  running  considerable  risk  in  meeting 
them. 

A   VISIT   TO    SPOTTED    TAIL. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  day  I  camped  on  Stinking  Water,  a 
tributary  of  the  Frenchman's  fork,  where  I  built  a  little  fire  in 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


621 


the  timber;  but  it  was  so  very  cold  I  was  not  able  to  sleep  much. 
Getting  an  early  start  in  the  morning  I  followed  up  the  French- 
man's fork  and  late  in  the  afternoon  I  could  see,  from  the  fresh 
horse  tracks  and  from  the  dead  buffaloes  lying  here  and  there, 
recently  killed,  that  I  was  nearing  Spotted  Tail's  carnp.  I  rode 
on  for  a  few  miles  further,  and  then  hiding  my  horse  in  a  low 
ravine,  I  crawled  up  a  high  hill,  where  I  obtained  a  good  view  of 
the  country.  I  could  see  for  four  or  five  miles  up  the  creek,  and 
got  sight  of  a  village  and  of  two  or  three  hundred  ponies  in  its 


CHIEF    SPOTTED    TAIL. 


vicinity.       I  waited    until   night    came  and   then    I    succeeded   iri 
riding  into  the  Indian  camp  unobserved. 

I  had  seen  Spotted  Tail's  camp  when  he  came  from  the  North 
and  I  knew  the  kind  of  lodge  he  was  living  in.  As  I  entered  the 
village  I  wrapped  a  blanket  around  my  head  so  that  the  Indians 
could  not  tell  whether  I  was  a  white  or  a  red  man.  In  this  way  I 
rode  around  until  I  found  Spotted  Tail's  lodge.  Dismounting 
from  my  horse  I  opened  his  tent  door  and,  looking  in,  saw  the 
old  chief  lying  on  some  robes.  I  spoke  to  him  and  he  recognized 
me  at  once  and  invited  me  to  enter.  Inside  the  lodge  I  found  a 


t,_'J  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

white  man,  an  old  frontiersman,  Todd  Randall,  who  was  Spotted 
Tail's  agent  and  who  had  lived  a  great  many  years  with  the  In- 
dians. He  understood  their  language  perfectly  and  did  all  the 
interpreting  for  Spotted  Tail.  Through  him  I  readily  communi- 
cated with  the  chief  and  informed  him  of  my  errand.  I  told  him 
that  the  warriors  and  chiefs  would  greatly  please  General  Sheri- 
dan if  they  would  meet  him  about  ten  sleeps  at  the  old  Govern- 
ment crossing  of  the  Red  Willow.  I  further  informed  him  that 
there  was  a  great  chief  from  across  the  water  who  was  coming 
there  to  visit  him. 

Spotted  Tail  replied  that  he  would  be  very  glad  to  go ;  that 
the  next  morning  he  would  call  his  people  together  and  select 
those  who  would  accompany  him.  I  told  Spotted  Tail  how  I  had 
entered  his  camp.  He  replied  that  I  had  acted  wisely;  that  al- 
though his  people  were  friendly,  yet  some  of  his  young  men  had 
a  grudge  against  me,  and  I  might  have  had  difficulty  with  them 
had  I  met  them  away  from  the  village.  He  directed  his  squaw 
to  get  me  something  to  eat,  and  ordered  that  my  horse  be 
taken  care  of  and  upon  his  invitation  I  spent  the  remainder  of 
the  night  in  his  lodge. 

THEY  WANTED  TO    LIFT    MY  HAIR. 

Next  morning  the  chiefs  and  warriors  assembled  according  to 
orders,  and  to  them  was  stated  the  object  of  my  visit.  They 
ware  asked:  "  Do  you  know  who  this  man  is?" 

"  Yes,  we  know  him  well,"  replied  one,  "  that  is  Pa-he-has- 
ka,"  (that  being  my  name  among  the  Sioux,  which  translated 
means  "  Long-Hair")  "  that  is  our  old  enemy;"  a  great  many 
of  the  Indians,  who  were  with  Spotted  Tail  at  this  time,  had 
been  driven  out  of  the  Republican  country. 

"  That  is  he,"  said  Spotted  Tail.  "  I  want  all  my  people  to 
be  kind  to  him  and  treat  him  as  my  friend." 

I  noticed  that  several  of  them  were  looking  daggers  at  me. 
They  appeared  as  if  they  wished  to  raise  my  hair  then  and  there. 
Spotted  Tail  motioned  and  I  followed  him  into  his  lodge,  and 
thereupon  the  Indians  dispersed.  Having  the  assurance  of 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


623 


Spotted  Tail  that  none  of  the  young  men  would  follow  me  I 
started  back  for  the  Red  Willow,  arriving  the  second  night. 

There  I  found  Captain  Egan  with  a  company  of  the  second 
Cavalry  and  a  wagon  train  loaded  with  tents,  grain,  provisions, 
etc.  The  men  were  leveling  off  the  ground  and  were  making 
preparations  to  put  up  large  wall  tents  for  the  Grand  Duke 
Alexis  and  his  suite,  and  for  General  Sheridan,  his  staff  and  other 
officers,  and  invited 
guests  of  the  party.  Pro- 
ceeding to  Fort  McPher- 
son  I  reported  what  had 
been  done.  Thereupon 
Quartermaster  Hays 
selected  from  the  five 
or  six  hundred  horses  in 
his  charge  seventy-five 
of  the  very  best,  which 
were  sent  to  the  Red 
Willow,  to  be  used  by 
Alexis  and  his  party  at 
the  coming  hunt.  In  a 
day  or  two  a  large  sup- 
ply of  provisions, 
liquors,  etc. ,  arrived  from 
Chicago,  together  with  THE  GKAND  DUKE'  ALEXI3' 

bedding  and  furniture  for  the  tents ;  all  of  which  were  sent  over 
to  Camp  Alexis. 

ARRIVAL  OF  THE  GRAND  DUKE. 

At  last,  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  of  January,  1872,  the 
Grand  Duke  and  party  arrived  at  North  Platte  by  special  train, 
in  charge  of  a  Mr.  Francis  Thompson.  Captain  Hays  and  myself, 
with  five  or  six  ambulances,  fifteen  or  twenty  extra  saddle  horses 
and  a  company  of  cavalry  under  Captain  Egan,  were  at  the  depot 
in  time  to  receive  them.  Presently  General  Sheridan  and  a  large, 
fine  looking  young  man,  whom  we  at  once  concluded  to  be  the 


624  STOUT    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Grand  Duke,  came  out  of  the  cars  and  approached  us.  Genera] 
Sheridan  at  once  introduced  me  to  the  Grand  Duke  as  Buffalo 
Bill,  for  he  it  was,  and  said  that  I  was  to  take  charge  of  him  and 
show  him  how  to  kill  buffalo. 

In  less  than  half  an  hour  the  whole  party  were  dashing  away 
towards  the  south,  across  the  South  Platte  and  towards  the  Med- 
icine, upon  reaching  which  point  we  halted  for  a  change  of 
horses  and  a  lunch.  Resuming  our  ride  we  reached  Camp  Alexis 
in  the  afternoon.  General  Sheridan  was  well  pleased  with  the 
arrangements  that  had  been  made  and  was  delighted  to  find  that 
Spotted  Tail  and  his  Indians  had  arrived  on  time.  They  were  ob- 
jects of  great  curiosity  to  the  Grand  Duke,  who  spent  consider- 
able time  in  looking  at  them,  and  watching  their  exhibitions  of 
horsemanship,  sham  fights,. etc.  That  evening  the  Indians  gave 
the  grand  war  dance,  which  I  had  arranged  for. 

GIVING   DUKE    ALEXIS    THE    CUE. 

General  Custer,  who  was  one  of  the  hunting  party,  carried  on 
a  mild  flirtation  with  one  of  Spotted  Tail's  daughters,  who  had 
accompanied  her  father  thither,  and  it  was  noticed  also  that  the 
Duke  Alexis  paid  considerable  attention  to  another  handsome 
red-skin  maiden.  The  night  passed  pleasantly,  and  all  retired 
with  great  expectations  of  having  a  most  enjoyable  and  success- 
ful buffalo  hunt.  The  Duke  Alexis  asked  me  a  great  many  ques- 
tions as  to  how  we  shot  buffaloes,  and  what  kind  of  a  gun  or 
pistol  we  used,  and  if  he  was  going  to  have  a  good  horse.  I  told 
him  that  he  was  going  to  have  my  celebrated  buffalo  horse  Buck- 
skin Joe,  and  when  we  went  into  a  buffalo  herd  all  he  would 
have  to  do  was  to  sit  on  the  horse's  back  and  fire  away. 

At  nine  o'clock  next  morning  we  were  all  in  our  saddles  and 

o 

in  a  few  minutes  were  galloping  over  the  prairies  in  search  of  a 
buffalo  herd.  We  had  not  gone  far  before  we  observed  a  herd 
some  distance  ahead  of  us  crossing  our  way ;  after  that  we  pro- 
ceeded cautiously,  so  as  to  keep  out  of  sight  until  we  were  ready 
to  make  a  charge. 

In  a  moment  the  Duke  became  very  much  excited  and  anxious 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OP   BUFFALO   BILL. 


625 


to  charge  directly  toward  the  buffaloes,  but  I  restrained  him 
for  a  time,  until  getting  around  to  windward  and  keeping  behind 
the  sand  hills  the  herd  was  gradually  approached. 

"  Now,"  said  I,  "  is  your  time ;  you  must  ride  as  fast  as  your 
horse  will  go,  and  don't  shoot  until  you  get  a  good  opportunity." 

Away  we  went,  tearing  down  the  hill  and  throwing  up  a  sand- 
storm in  the  rear,  leaving  the  Duke's  retinue  far  behind.  When 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  fleeing  buffaloes  the  Duke  fired, 
but  unfortunately  missed,  being  unused  to  shooting  from  a  run- 
ning horse. 

I  now  rode  up  close  beside  him  and  advised  him  not  to  fire 
until  he  could 
ride  directly 
upon  the  flank 
of  a  buffalo, 
as  the  sport 
was  most  in 
the  chas  e. 
We  dashed  off 
together  and 
ran  our  horses 
on  either  flank 
of  a  large  bull, 

against  the  THE  GRAND  DUKE  KILLING  HIS  FIRST  BUFFALO. 
side  of  which  the  Duke  thrust  his  gun  and  fired  a  fatal  shot.  He 
was  very  much  elated  at  his  success,  taking  off  his  cap  and  waving 
it  vehemently,  at  the  same  time  shouting  to  those  who  were  fully 
a  mile  in  the  rear.  When  his  retinue  came  up  there  were  con- 
gratulations and  every  one  drank  to  his  good  health  with  over- 
flowing glasses  of  champagne.  The  hide  of  the  dead  buffalo  was 
carefully  removed  and  dressed,  and  the  royal  traveler  in  his 
journey  ings  over  the  world  has  no  doubt  often  rested  himself 
upon  this  trophy  of  his  skill  (?)  on  the  plains  of  America. 

An  encampment  was  now  made,  as  the  party  was  quite  fatigued, 
and  the  evening  passed  with  song  and  story.  On  the  following 
day,  by  request  of  Spotted  Tail,  the  Grand  Duke  hunted  for  a 

40 


626 


STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


while  beside  "  Two  Lance,*'  a  celebrated  chief,  who  claimed  he 
could  send  an  arrow  entirely  through  the  body  of  the  largest 
buffalo.  This  feat  seemed  so  incredulous  that  there  was  a  gen- 
eral denial  of  his  ability  to  perform  it ;  nevertheless,  the  Grand 
Duke  and  also  several  others  who  accompanied  the  chief,  wit- 
nessed, with  profound  astonishment,  an  accomplishment  of  the 
feat,  and  the  arrow  that  passed  through  the  buffalo  was  given  to 
the  Duke  as  a  memento  of  Two  Lance's  skill  and  power.  On 


TWO    LANCE    SHOOTING    AN    ARROW    THROUGH    A    BUFFALO. 

the  same  clay  of  this  performance  the  Grand  Duke  killed  a 
buffalo  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred  paces  with  a  heavy  navy 
revolver.  The  shot  was  a  marvelous  —  scratch. 

When  the  Grand  Duke  was  satisfied  with  the  sport,  orders 
were  given  for  the  return  to  the  railroad.  The  conveyance  pro- 
vided for  the  Grand  Duke  and  General  Sheridan  was  a  heavy 
double-seated  open  carriage,  or  rather  an  Irish  dog-cart,  and  it 
was  drawn  by  six  spirited  cavalry  horses  which  were  not  much 
used  to  the  harness.  The  driver  was  Bill  Reed,  an  old  overland 


AUTOBIOGRAPHT    OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  627 

stage  driver  and  wagon-master ;  on  our  way  in,  the  Grand  Duke 
frequently  expressed  his  admiration  of  the  skillful  manner  in 
which  Reed  handled  the  reins.  General  Sheridan  informed  the 
Duke  that  I  also  had  been  a  stage  driver  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  thereupon  His  Royal  Highness  expressed  a  desire  to  see  me 
drive.  I  was  in  advance  at  the  time,  and  General  Sheridan  sang 
out  to  me : 

"  Cody,  get  in  here  and  show  the  Duke  how  you  can  drive. 
Mr.  Reed  will  exchange  places  with  you  and  ride  your  horse." 

"All  right v  General,"  said  I,  and  in  a  few  moments  I  had  the 
reins  and  we  were  rattling  away  over  the  prairie.  When  we 
were  approaching  Medicine  creek,  General  Sheridan  said: 
"  Shake  'em  up  a  little  Bill,  and  give  us  some  old-time  stage- 
driving." 

GIVING    THE    DUKE  A  SHAKING  UP. 

I  gave  the  horses  a  crack  or  two  of  the  whip,  and  they  started 
off  at  a  very  rapid  gait.  They  had  a  light  load  to  pull,  and  kept 
increasing  their  speed  at  every  jump,  and  I  found  it  difficult  to 
hold  them.  They  fairly  flew  over  the  ground,  and  at  last  we 
reached  a  steep  hill,  or  divide,  which  led  down  into  the  valley  of 
the  Medicine.  There  was  no  brake  on  the  wagon,  and  the  horses 
were  not  much  on  the  hold  back.  I  saw  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  stop  them.  All  I  could  do  was  to  keep  them  straight  in 
the  track  and  let  them  go  it  down  the  hill,  for  three  miles,  which 
distance,  I  believe ,  was  made  in  about  six  minutes.  Every  once 
in  a  while  the  hind  wheels  would  strike  a  rut  and  take  a  bound, 
and  not  touch  the  ground  again  for  fifteen  or  twenty  feet.  The 
Duke  and  the  General  were  kept  rather  busy  in  holding  their 
positions  on  the  seats,  and  when  they  saw  that  I  was  keeping  the 
horses  straight  in  the  road,  they  seemed  to  enjoy  the  dash  which 
we  were  making.  I  was  unable  to  stop  the  team  until  they  ran 
into  the  camp  where  we  were  to  obtain  a  fresh  relay,  and  there 
I  succeeded  in  checking  them.  The  Grand  Duke  said  he  didn't 
want  any  more  of  that  kind  of  driving,  as  he  preferred  to  go  a 
little  slower. 


628 


STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


On  arriving  at  the  railroad,  the  Duke  invited  me  into  his  car, 
and  made  me  some  valuable  presents,  at  the  same  time  giving 
me  a  cordial  invitation  to  visit  him,  if  ever  I  should  come  to  his 
country.  At  the  same  time  General  Sheridan  took  occasion  to 
remind  me  of  an  invitation  to  visit  New  York  which  I  had  re- 
ceived from  some  of  the  gentlemen  who  accompanied  the  General 
on  the  hunt  from  Fort  McPherson  to  Hays  City,  in  September 


SHAKING  UP  THE  GRAND  DUKE. 

af  the  previous  year.  Said  he:  "  You  will  never  have  a  bettei 
•pportunity  to  accept  that  invitation  than  now.  I  have  had  a 
talk  with  General  Ord  concerning  you,  and  he  will  give  you  leave 
of  absence  whenever  you  are  ready  to  start.  Write  a  letter  to 
General  Stager,  of  Chicago,  that  you  are  now  prepared  to  accept 
the  invitation9  and  he  will  send  you  a  pass."  Thanking  the  Gen- 
eral for  his  kindness,  I  then  bade  him  and  the  Grand  Duke  good- 
bye, and  soon  their  train  was  out  of  sight. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


CHAPTER    XVin. 

SCOUTING    IN   A    SWALLOW-TAIL    OUTFIT. 

ENERAL  ORD,  commanding  the  De- 
partment of  the  Platte  at  the  time,  and 
who  had  been  out  on  the  Alexis  hunt, 
had  some  business  to  attend  to  at  Fort 
McPherson,  and  I  accepted  his  invita- 
tion to  ride  over  to  the  post  with  him 
in  an  ambulance.  On  the  way  thither 
he  asked  me  how  I  would  like  to  have 
an  officer's  commission  in  the  regular 
army.  He  said  that  General  Sheridan 
and  himself  had  had  some  conversation 
about  the  matter,  and  if  J  wanted  a 
commission,  one  could  easily  be  pro- 
cured for  me.  I  thanked  General  Ord 
for  his  kindness,  and  said  that  although  an  officer's  commission 
in  the  regular  army  was  a  tempting  prize,  yet  I  preferred  to  re- 
main in  the  position  I  was  then  holding.  He  concluded  by  stat- 
ing that  if  at  any  time  1  should  wish  a  commission,  all  that  I 
would  have  to  do  to  secure  it  would  be  to  inform  him  of  my 
desire. 

Having  determined  to  visit  New  York,  I  acted  upon  General 
Sheridan's  suggestion  and  wrote  to  General  Stager,  from  whom 
in  a  few  days  I  received  my  railroad  passes.  Obtaining  thirty 
days'  leave  of  absence  from  the  department,  I  struck  out  for  the 
East.  On  arriving  in  Chicago,  in  February,  1872,  I  was  met  at 
the  depot  by  Colonel  M.  V.  Sheridan,  who  said  that  his  brother, 
the  General,  had  not  yet  returned,  but  had  sent  word  that  I  was 
to  be  his  and  the  Colonel's  guest,  at  their  house,  while  I  re- 
mained in  Chicago. 

I  spent  two  or  three  days  very  pleasantly  in  the  great  city  of 
the  West,  meeting  several  gentlemen  who  had  been  out  on  the 


C30 


STORY    OF    THE   WILD    WES  I. 


Sheridan  hunt  in  September:  General  Stager,  Colonel  Wilson, 
editor  of  the  Journal;  Mr.  Sam  Johnson,  General  Rucker  and 
others,  by  all  of  whom  I  was  most  cordially  received  and  well 
entertained.  I  was  introduced  to  quite  a  number  of  the  best  peo- 
ple of  the  city,  and  was  invited  to  several  "  swell"  dinners.  I 
also  accompanied  General  Sheridan  —  who  meantime  had  re- 
turned to  the  city  —  to  a  ball  at  Riverside,  an  aristocratic  sub- 

urb. On  this 
occasion  I  be- 
came so  embar- 
rassed that  it 
was  more  diffi- 
cult for  me  to 
face  the  throng 
of  beautiful 
ladies,  than  it 
would  have 
been  to  con- 
front a  hundred 
hostile  Indians. 
This  was  my 
first  trip  to  the 
East,  and  I  had 
not  yet  become 
accustomed  to 
being  stared  at. 
And  besides 

thlS,     the 


SCOUTING    AMONG    THE    CIVILIANS. 

dreds  of  questions  which  I  was  called  upon  to  answer  further 
embarrassed  and  perplexed  me. 

According  to  the  route  laid  out  for  me  by  General  Stager,  I 
was  to  stop  at  Niagara  Falls,  Buffalo.  and  Rochester  on  my  way 
to  New  York,  and  he  provided  me  with  all  the  necessary  railroad 
passes.  Just  as  I  was  about  to  leave  Chicago  I  met  Professor 
Henry  A.  Ward,  of  Rochester,  for  whom  during  the  previous 
year  or  two  I  had  collected  a  large  number  of  specimens  of  wild 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  631 

animals.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Rochester,  and  kindly  volun- 
teered to  act  as  my  guide  until  we  reached  that  point.  We  spent 
one  day  in  viewing  the  wonders  of  Niagara,  and  I  stopped  one 
day  at  Rochester  and  was  shown  the  beauties  of  that  handsome 
eity  by  Professor  Ward,  and  I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  an  in 
vitation  to  dine  with  the  Mayor. 

A    GUEST   OF  THE   UXION    CLUB.      . 

On  arriving  at  New  York  I  was  met  at  the  depot  by  Mr.  J.  G. 
Hecksher,  who  had  been  appointed  as  "  a  committee  of  one" 
to  escort  me  to  the  Union  Club,  where  James  Gordon  Bennett, 
Leonard  W.  Jerome  and  others  were  to  give  me  an  informal  re- 
ception, and  where  I  was  to  make  my  headquarters  during  my 
visit  to  the  great  metropolis.  I  had  an  elegant  dinner  at  the 
club  rooms,  with  the  gentlemen  who  had  been  out  on  the  Sep- 
tember hunt,  and  other  members  of  the  club. 

After  dinner,  in  company  with  Mr.  Hecksher — who  acted  as  my 
guide — I  started  out  on  the  trail  of  my  friend,  Ned  Buntline, 
whom  we  found  at  the  Brevoort  Place  Hotel.  He  was  delighted 
to  see  me,  and  insisted  on  my  becoming  his  guest.  He  would 
listen  to  no  excuses,  and  on  intioducing  me  to  Messrs.  Overton 
&  Blair,  proprietors  of  the  Brevoort,  they  also  gave  me  a  press- 
ing invitation  to  make  my  home  at  their  house.  I  finally  com- 
promised the  matter  by  agreeing  to  divide  my  time  between  the 
Union  Club,  the  Brevoort  House,  and  Ned  Buntline' s  headquart- 
ers. 

The  next  few  days  I  spent  in  viewing  the  sights  of  New  York, 
everything  being  new  and  startling,  convincing  me  that  as  yet  1 
had  seen  but  a  small  portion  of  the  world.  I  received  numerous 
dinner  invitations,  as  well  as  invitations  to  visit  different  places 
of  amusement  and  interest ;  but  as  they  came  in  so  thick  and 
fast,  I  soon  became  badly  demoralized  and  confused.  I  found 
I  had  accepted  invitations  to  dine  at  half  a  dozen  or  more  houses 
on  the  same  day  and  at  the  same  hour.  James  Gordon  Bennett 
had  prepared  a  dinner  for  me,  at  which  quite  a  large  number  of 
his  friends  were  to  be  present,  but  owing  to  my  confusion,  aris- 


632  STORY   OF  THE    WILD    WEST. 

ing  from  the  many  other  invitations  I  had  received,  I  forgot  all 
about  it  and  dined  elsewhere.  This  was  "  a  bad  break,"  but  I 
did  not  learn  of  my  mistake  until  next  day,  when  at  the  Union 
Club  House  several  gentlemen,  among  them  Lawrence  Jerome, 
inquired  "  where  in  the  world  I  had  been,"  and  why  I  had  not 
put  in  an  appearance  at  Bennett's  dinner.  They  said  that  Ben- 
nett had  taken  great  pains  to  give  me  a  splendid  reception,  that 
the  party  had  waited  till  nine  o'clock  for  me  and  that  my  non- 
arrival  caused  considerable  disappointment.  I  apologized  as  well 
as  I  could  by  saying  that  I  had  been  out  on  a  scout  and  had  got 
lost  and  had  forgotten  all  about  the  dinner,  and  expressed  my 
regret  for  the  disappointment  I  had  created  by  my  forgetfulness. 
August  Belmont,  the  banker,  being  near,  said:  "  Never  mind, 
gentlemen,  I'll  give  Cody  a  dinner  at  my  house." 

"  Thank  you,  sir,"  said  I;  "  I  see  you  are  determined  that  I 
shall  not  run  short  of  rations  while  I  am  in  the  city.  I'll  be 
there,  sure."  Both  Mr.  Jerome  and  Mr.  Hecksher  told  me  that 
I  must  not  disappoint  Mr.  Belmont,  for  his  dinners  were  splen- 
did affairs.  I  made  a  note  of  the  date,  and  at  the  appointed 
time  I  was  promptly  at  Mr.  Belmont' s  mansion,  where  I  spent 
a  very  enjoyable  evening. 

Mr.  Bennett,  who  was  among  the  guests,  having  forgiven  my 
carelessness,  invited  me  to  accompany  him  to  the  Liederkranz 
masked  ball,  which  was  to  take  place  in  a  few  evenings  and  would 
be  a  grand  spectacle.  Together  we  attended  the  ball  and  during 
the  evening  I  was  well  entertained.  The  dancers  kept  on  their 
masks  until  midnight,  and  the  merry  and  motley  throng  pre- 
sented a  brilliant  scene,  moving  gracefully  beneath  the  bright 
gas-light  to  inspiriting  music.  To  me  it  was  a  novel  and 
entertaining  sight,  and  in  many  respects  reminded  me  greatly  of 
an  Indian  war-dance. 

Acting  upon  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Bennett,  I  had  dressed  my- 
self in  my  buckskin  suit,  and  I  naturally  attracted  considerable 
attention ;  especially  when  I  took  part  in  the  dancing  and  exhib- 
ited some  of  my  backwoods  steps,  which,  although  not  as  grace- 
ful as  some,  were  a  great  deal  more  emphatic.  But  when  I 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  633 

undertook  to  do  artistic  dancing,  I  found  I  was  decidedly  out  of 
place  in  that  crowd,  and  I  accordingly  withdrew  from  the  floor. 
I  occasionally  passed  an  evening  at  Ni  bio's  Garden,  viewing 
the  many  beauties  of  "  The  Black  Crook,'*  which  was  then  hav- 
ing its  long  run,  under  the  management  of  Jarrett  &  Palmer, 
whose  acquaintance  I  had  made,  and  who  extended  to  me  the 
freedom  of  the  theater. 

MY  ALTER  EGO  ON  THE  STAGE. 

Ned  Buntline  and  Fred  Maeder  had  dramatized  one  of  the 
stories  which  the  former  had  written  about  me  for  the  New  York 
Weekly.  The  drama  was  called  "  Buffalo  Bill,  the  King  of 
Border  Men."  While  I  was  in  New  York  it  was  produced  at 
the  Bowery  Theater;  J.  B.  Studley,  an  excellent  actor,  appearing 
in  the  character  of  "  Buffalo  Bill,"  and  Mrs.  W.  G.  Jones,  a  fine 
actress,  taking  the  part  of  my  sister,  a  leading  role.  I  was  curi- 
ous to  see  how  I  would  look  when  represented  by  some  one  else, 
and  of  course  I  was  present  on  the  opening  night,  a  private  box 
having  been  reserved  for  me.  The  theater  was  packed,  every 
seat  being  occupied  as  well  as  nil  standing-room.  The  drama 
was  played  smoothly  and  created  a  great  deal  of  enthusiasm. 

The  audience,  upon  learning  that  the  real  "  Buffalo  Bill"  was 
present,  gave  several  cheers  between  the  acts,  and  I  was  called 
on  to  come  out  on  the  stage  and  make  a  speech.  Mr.  Freleigh, 
the  manager,  insisted  that  I  should  comply  with  the  request, 
and  that  I  should  be  introduced  to  Mr.  Studley.  I  finally  con- 
sented, and  the  next  moment  I  found  myself  standing  behind 
the  footlights  and  in  front  of  an  audience  for  the  first  time  in 
my  life.  I  looked  up,  then  down,  then  on  each  side,  and  every- 
where I  saw  a  sea  of  human  faces,  and  thousands  of  eyes  all 
staring  at  me.  I  confess  that  I  felt  very  much  embarrassed  — 
never  more  so  in  my  life  —  and  I  knew  not  what  to  say.  I 
made  a  desperate  effort,  and  a  few  words  escaped  me,  but  what 
they  were  I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  tell,  nor  could  any  one 
else  in  the  house.  My  utterances  were  inaudible  even  to  the 
leader  of  the  orchestra,  Mr.  Dean,  who  was  sitting  only  a  few 


634  8TORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

feet  in  front  of  me.  Bowing  to  the  audience ,  I  beat  a  hasty 
retreat  into  one  of  the  canons  of  the  stage.  I  never  felt  more 
relieved  in  my  life  than  when  I  got  out  of  the  view  of  that  im- 
mense crowd. 

MY   FIRST   APPEARANCE    ON    THE   STAGE. 

That  evening  Mr.  Freleigh  offered  to  give  me  five  hundred 
dollars  a  week  to  play  the  part  of  "Buffalo  Bill'*  myself.  I 
thought  that  he  was  certainly  joking,  especially  as  he  had  wit- 
nessed my  awkward  performance ;  but  when  he  assured  me  that 
he  was  in  earnest,  I  told  him  that  it  would  be  useless  for  me  to 
attempt  anything  of  the  kind,  for  I  never  could  talk  to  a  crowd 
of  people  like  that,  even  if  it  was  to  save  my  neck,  and  that  he 
might  as  well  try  to  make  an  actor  out  of  a  government  mule. 
I  thanked  him  for  the  generous  offer,  which  I  had  to  decline 
owing  to  a  lack  of  confidence  in  myself;  or  as  some  people 
might  express  it,  I  didn't  have  the  requisite  cheek  to  undertake 
A  thing  of  that  sort.  The  play  of  fc<  Buffalo  Bill  "  had  a  very 
successful  run  of  six  or  eight  weeks,  and  was  afterwards 
produced  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  country,  everywhere 
being  received  with  genuine  enthusiasm. 

I  had  been  in  New  York  about  twenty  days  when  General 
Sheridan  arrived  in  the  city.  I  met  him  soon  after  he  got  into 
town.  In  answer  to  a  question  how  I  was  enjoying  myself,  I  re- 
plied that  I  had  struck  the  best  camp  I  had  ever  seen,  and  if  he 
didn't  have  any  objections  I  would  like  to  have  my  leave  of  ab- 
sence extended  about  ten  days.  This  he  willingly  did,  and  then 
informed  me  that  my  services  would  soon  be  required  at  Fort 
McPherson,  as  there  was  to  be  an  expedition  sent  out  from  that 
point. 

At  Westchester,  Pennsylvania,  I  had  some  relatives  living 
whom  I  had  never  seen,  and  now  being  so  near,  I  determined  to 
make  them  a  visit.  Upon  mentioning  the  matter  to  Buntline,  he 
suggested  that  we  should  together  take  a  trip  to  Philadelphia, 
and  thence  run  out  to  Westchester.  Accordingly  the  next  day 
found  us  in  the  "  City  of  Brotherly  Love/'  and  in  a  few  hours 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO   BILL. 

we  arrived  at  the  home  of  my  uncle,  General  Henry  R.  Guss,. 
the  proprietor  of  the  Green  Tree  Hotel,  who  gave  us  a  cordial 
reception. 

Inviting  us  into  the  parlor,  my  uncle  brought  in  the  members 
of  his  family,  among  them  an  elderly  lady,  who  was  my  grand- 
mother, as  he  informed  me.  He  told  me  that  my  Aunt  Eliza,, 
his  first  wife,  was  dead,  and  that  he  had  married  a  second  time; 
Lizzie  Guss,  my  cousin,  I  thought  was  the  most  beautiful  girl  I 
had  ever  seen.  They  were  all  very  anxious  to  have  us  remain 
several  days,  but  as  I  had  some  business  to  attend  to  in  New 
York,  I  was  obliged  to  return  that  day.  Assuring  them,  how- 
ever, that  I  would  visit  them  again  soon,  I  bade  them  adieu,  and 
with  Buntline  took  the  train  for  New  York. 

The  time  soon  arrived  for  my  departure  for  the  West;  so- 
packing  up  my  traps  I  started  for  home,  and  on  the  way  thither 
I  spent  a  day  with  my  West  Chester  relatives,  who  did  everything* 
in  their  power  to  entertain  me  during  my  brief  stay  with  them. 


636 


8TORY   OP  TUB   WILD    WEST. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


AGAIN   ON   THE   INDIAN   TRAIL. 

PON  reaching  Fort  McPherson,  I  found  that  the 
Third  Cavalry,  commanded  by  General  Rey- 
nold0 had  arrived  from  Arizona,  in  which 
Territory  they  had  been  on  duty  for  some  time, 
and  where  they  had  acquired  quite  a  reputation 
on  account  of  their  Indian  fighting  qualities. 
Shortly  after  my  return,  a  small  party  of  In- 
dians made  a  -dash  on  McPherson  station, 
about  five  miles  from  the  fort,  killing  two  or 
three  men  and  running  off  quite  a  large  number 
^>f  horses.  Captain  Meinhcld  and  Lieutenant  Lawson  with  their 
company  were  ordered  out  to  pursue  and  punish  the  Indians  if 
possible.  I  was  the  guide  of  the  expedition  and  had  an  assistant, 
T.  B.  Omohundro,  better  known  as  "  Texas  Jack,"  and  who  was 
a  scout  at  the  post. 

Finding  the  trail,  I  followed  it  for  two  days,  although  it  was 
difficult  trailing  because  the  red-skins  had  taken  every  possible 
precaution  to  conceal  their  tracks.  On  the  second  day  Captain 
Meinhold  went  into  camp  on  the  South  fork  of  the  Loupe,  at  a 
point  where  the  trail  was  badly  scattered.  Six  men  were  detailed 
to  accompany  me  on  a  scout  in  search  of  the  camp  of  the  fugitives. 
We  had  gone  but  a  short  distance  when  we  discovered  Indians 
camped,  not  more  than  a  mile  away,  with  horses  grazing  near  by. 
They  were  only  a  small  party,  and  I  determined  to  charge  upon 
them  with  my  six  men,  rather  than  return  to  the  command,  be- 
cause I  feared  they  would  see  us  as  we  went  back  and  ttieja  they 
would  get  away  from  us  entirely.  I  asked  the  men  if  they  were 
willing  to  attempt  it,  and  they  replied  that  they  would  follow  me 
tvlierever  I  would  lead  them.  That  was  the  kind  of  spirit  that 
pleased  me,  and  we  immediately  moved  forward  on  the  enemy, 
getting  as  close  to  them  as  possible  without  being  seen. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


637 


I  finally  gave  the  signal  to  charge,  and  we  dashed  into  the  little 
camp  with  a  yell.     Five  Indians  sprang  out  of  a  willow  tepee, 


INDIAN    HIDING    HIS    TRAIL. 


and  greeted  us  with  a  volley,  and  we  returned  the  fire.  I  wa& 
riding  Buckskin  Joe,  who  with  a  few  jumps  brought  me  up  to  the 
tepee,  followed  by  my  men.  We  nearly  ran  over  the  Indians 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

who  were  endeavoring  to  reach  their  horses  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  creek.  Just  as  one  was  jumping  the  narrow  stream  a  bullet 
from  my  old  "  Lucretia  "  overtook  him.  He  never  reached  the 
other  bank,  but  dropped  dead  in  the  water.  Those  of  the  Indians 
who  were  guarding  the  horses,  seeing  what  was  going  on  at  the 
camp,  came  rushing  to  the  rescue  of  their  friends.  I  now  counted 
thirteen  braves,  but  as  we  had  already  disposed  of  two,  we  had 
only  eleven  to  take  care  of.  The  odds  were  nearly  two  to  one 
against  us. 

A    SHARP    FIGHT WOUNDED. 

While  the  Indian  re-enforcements  were  approaching  the  camp  I 
jumped  the  creek  with  Buckskin  Joe  to  meet  them,  expecting 
our  party  would  follow  me ;  but  as  they  could  not  induce  their 
horses  to  make  the  leap,  I  was  the  only  one  who  got  over.  I 
ordered  the  sergeant  to  dismount  his  men,  leaving  one  to  hold 
the  horses,  and  come  over  with  the  rest  and  help  me  drive  the  In- 
dians off.  Before  they  could  do  this,  two  mounted  warriors 
closed  in  on  me  and  were  shooting  at  short  range.  I  returned 
their  fire  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  one  of  them  fall  from 
his  horse.  At  this  moment  I  felt  blood  trickling  down  my  fore- 
head*, and  hastily  running  my  hand  through  my  hair  I  discovered 
that  I  had  received  a  scalp  wound.  The  Indian,  who  had  shot  me, 
was  not  more  than  ten  yards  away,  and  when  he  saw  his  partner 
tumble  from  his  saddle  he  turned  to  run. 

By  this  time  the  soldiers  had  crossed  the  creek  to  assist  me, 
and  were  blazing  away  at  the  other  Indians.  Urging  Buckskin 
Joe  forward,  I  was  soon  alongside  of  the  chap  who  had  wounded 
me,  when  raising  myself  in  the  stirrups  I  shot  him  through  the 
head. 

The  reports  of  our  guns  had  been  heard  by  Captain  Meinhold, 
who  at  once  started  with  his  company  up  the  creek  to  our  aid, 
and  when  the  remaining  Indians,  whom  we  were  still  fighting, 
saw  these  re-enforcements  coming,  they  whirled  their  horses  and 
fled;  as  their  steeds  were  quite  fresh  they  made  their  escape. 
However,  we  killed  six  out  of  the  thirteen  Indians,  and  captured 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


63$ 


most  of  their  stolen  stock.  Our  loss  was  one  man  killed,  and 
another  —  myself  —  slightly  wounded.  One  of  our  horses 
was  killed,  and 
Buckskin  Joe  was 
wounded,  but  I 
didn't  discover  the 
fact  until  some  ..[ 
time  afterwards,  » 
as  he  had  been  | 
shot  in  the  breast  c 
and  showed  no  £ 
signs  of  having  r 
received  a  scratch  M 
of  any  kind.  H 
Securing  the  s 
scalps  of  the  dead  H 
Indians  and  other  § 
trophies  w  e  re-  g 
turned  to  the  fort.  M< 
I  made  several  g 
other  scouts  dur-  H 
ing  the  summer  g 
with  different^ 
officers  of  the  § 
Third  Cavalry,  g 
one  being  with  H 
Maj.  Alick  Moore,  & 
a  good  officer,  with  g 
whom  I  was  out  § 
for  thirty  days.  : 
Another  long  one 
was  with  Major 
Curtis,  with  whom 
I  followed  some 

Indians  from  the   South   Platte   river  to  Fort  Randall  on 
Missouri  river,  in  Dakota,  on  which  trip  the  command  ran  out  of 


640  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

rations  and  for  fifteen  days  subsisted  entirely  upon  the  game  we 
killed. 

HUNTING  WITH  AN   EARL. 

In  the  fall  of  1872  the  Earl  of  Dunraven  and  Dr.  Kingsley, 
with  several  friends,  came  to  Fort  McPherson  with  a  letter  from 
General  Sheridan,  asking  me  to  accompany  them  on  an  elk  hunt. 
I  did  so,  and  afterwards  spent  several  weeks  in  hunting  with  the 
Earl  of  Dunraven,  who  was  a  thorough  sportsman  and  an  excel- 
lent hunter.  It  was  while  I  was  out  with  the  Earl  that  a. 
Chicago  party  — friends  of  General  Sheridan  —  arrived  at  Fort 
McPherson  for  the  purpose  of  going  out  on  a  hunt  also.  They, 
too,  had  a  letter  from  the  General  requesting  me  to  go  with  them. 
The  Earl  had  not  yet  finished  his  hunt,  but  as  I  had  been  out 
with  him  for  several  weeks,  and  he  had  by  this  time  learned 
where  to  find  plenty  of  elks  and  other  game,  I  concluded  to  leave 
him  and  accompany  the  Chicago  party.  I  informed  him  of  my 
intention  and  gave  him  my  reasons  for  going,  at  the  same  time 
telling  him  I  would  send  him  one  of  my  scouts,  Texas  Jack,  who 
was  a  good  hunter,  and  would  be  glad  to  accompany  him.  The 
Earl  seemed  to  be  somewhat  offended  at  this,  and  I  don't  think 
he  has  ever  forgiven  me  for  "  going  back  on  him."  Let  that 
be  as  it  may,  he  found  Texas  Jack  a  splendid  hunter  and  guide, 
and  Jack  was  his  guide  on  several  hunts  afterwards. 

Among  the  gentlemen  who  composed  the  Chicago  party  were 
E.  P.  Green,  —  son-in-law  of  Remington,  the  rifle  manufactur- 
er,—  Alexander  Sample,  Mr.  Milligan,  of  the  firm  of  Heath  & 
Milligan,  of  Chicago,  and  several  others,  whose  names  I  do  not 
now  remember.  Mr.  Milligan  was  a  man  full  of  life,  and  was 
continually  "  boiling  over  with  fun."  He  was  a  regular  veloci- 
pede, so  to  speak,  and  was  here,  there,  and  everywhere.  He 
was  exceedingly  desirous  of  having  an  Indian  fight  on  the  trip, 
not  that  he  was  naturally  a  blood-thirsty  man,  but  just  for  variety 
he  wanted  a  little  "  Indian  pie."  He  was  in  every  respect  the 
life  of  the  party,  during  the  entire  time  that  we  were  out.  One 
day  while  he  was  hunting  with  Sample  and  myself  we  came  in 
sight  of  a  band  of  thirty  mounted  Indians. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  641 

"  Milligan,  here's  what  you've  been  wanting  for  some  time," 
said  I,  "  for  yonder  is  a  war  party  of  Indians  and  no  mistake; 
and  they'll  come  for  us,  you  bet." 

"  1  don't  believe  this  is  one  of  my  fighting  days,"  replied  Mil- 
ligan, "  and  it  occurs  to  me  that  I  have  urgent  business  at  the 
camp." 

A    PARTY   WHICH   MILLIGAN    REFUSED  TO    ATTEND. 

Our  camp  was  five  or  six  miles  distant  on  the  Dismal  river, 
and  our  escort  consisted  of  a  company  of  cavalry  commanded  by 
Captain  Russell.  The  soldiers  were  in  camp,  and  Milligan 
thought  that  Captain  Russell  ought  to  be  at  once  notified  of  the 
appearance  of  these  Indians.  Knowing  that  we  could  reach  the 
camp  in  safety,  for  we  were  well  mounted,  I  continued  to  have 
considerable  amusement  at  Milligan' s  expense,  who  finally  said: 

"  Cody,  what's  making  my  hat  raise  up  so.  I  can  hardly  keep 
it  on  my  head." 

Sample,  who  was  as  cool  as  a  cucumber,  said  to  Milligan: 
"  There  must  be  something  wrong  with  your  hair.  It  must  be 
trying  to  get  on  end." 

*<  It's  all  very  fine  for  you  fellows  to  stand  here  and  talk," 
replied  Milligan,  "  but  I  am  not  doing  justice  to  my  family  by 
remaining.  Sample,  I  think  we  are  a  couple  of  old  fools  to  have 
come  out  here,  and  I  never  would  have  done  so  if  it  had  not 
been  for  you." 

By  this  time  the  Indians  had  discovered  us  and  were  holding  a 
consultation,  and  Milligan  turned  his  horse  in  the  direction  of  the 
camp.  I  never  believed  that  he  was  half  as  scared  as  he  seemed 
to  be,  but  that  he  was  merely  pretending  so  that  we  could  enjoy 
our  joke.  However,  we  did  not  wait  any  longer,  but  rode  into 
camp  and  notified  Captain  Russell,  who  immediately  started  with 
his  company  to  pursue  the  band.  While  we  were  riding  along 
with  the  company  Milligan  said  to  Sample:  "Now,  Alick,  let 
them  come  on.  We  may  yet  go  back  to  Chicago  covered  with 
glory." 

We  struck  the  trail  going  north,  but  us  we  had  not  come  out 

41 


642  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

on  a  soout  for  Indians,  we  concluded  not  to  follow  them ;  al- 
though Milligan  was  now  very  anxious  to  proceed  and  clean  them 
out.  The  hunt  came  to  an  end  in  a  day  or  two,  and  we  escorted  the 
visiting  sportsmen  to  North  Platte,  where  they  took  the  train  for 
Chicago.  Before  their  departure  they  extended  to  me  a  very 
cordial  invitation  to  come  to  their  city  on  a  visit,  promising  that 
I  should  be  well  taken  care  of. 

ROPING  A  BUFFALO. 

Soon  after  this  I  had  the  pleasure  of  guiding  a  party  of  gen- 
tlemen  from  Omaha  on   a  buffalo   hunt.     Among  the   number 


ROPING    A    BUFFALO. 


were  Judge  Dundy,  Colonel  Watson  B.  Smith,  and  U.  S.  Dis- 
trict Attorney  Neville.  We  left  Fort  McPherson  in  good  trim. 
I  was  greatly  amused  at  the  "  style  "  of  Mr.  Neville,  who  wore 
a  stove-pipe  hat  and  a  swallow  tail  coat,  which  made  up  a  very 
comical  rig  for  a  buffalo  hunter.  As  we  galloped  over  the  prai- 
rie, he  jammed  his  hat  down  over  his  ears  to  keep  it  from  being 
shaken  off  his  head,  and  in  order  to  stick  to  his  horse,  he  clung 
to  the  pommel  of  his  saddle.  He  was  not  much  of  a  rider,  and 
he  went  bouncing  up  and  down,  with  his  swallow-tails  flopping 
in  the  air.  The  sight  I  shall  never  forget,  for  it  was  enough  to 
make  a  "  horse  laugh,"  and  I  actually  believe  old  Buckskin  Joe 
did  laugh. 

However,  we  had  a  splendid  hunt,  and  on  the  second  day  I 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  643 

lariated,  or  roped,  a  big  buffalo  bull  and  tied  him  to  a  tree,  —  a 
feat  which  I  had  often  performed,  and  which  the  gentlemen  re- 
quested me  to  do  on  this  occasion  for  their  bepefit,  as  they  had 
heard  of  my  skill  with  the  lariat.  I  captured  several  other  buf- 
faloes in  the  same  way.  The  gentlemen  returned  to  Omaha  well 
pleased  with  their  hunt. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  1872,  a  convention  was  held  at  Grand 
Island,  when  some  of  my  friends  made  me  their  candidate  to  re- 
present the  Twenty-sixth  District  in  the  Legislature  of  Nebraska; 
but  as  I  had*  always  been  a  Democrat  and  the  State  was  largely 
Republican,  I  had  no  idea  of  being  elected.  In  fact  I  cared  very 
little  about  it,  and  therefore  made  no  effort  whatever  to  secure 
,an  election.  However,  I  was  elected  and  that  is  the  way  in 
which  I  acquired  my  title  of  Honorable. 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

CHAPTER    XX. 

AN   ACTOR. 

CURING  the  summer  and  fall  of  1872, 1  received 
numerous  letters  from  Ned  Buntline,  urging  me 
to  come  East  and  go  upon  the  stage  to 
represent  my  own  character.  "There's 
money  in  it,"  he  wrote,  "  and  you  will 
prove  a  big  card,  as  your  character  is  a 
novelty  on  the  stage." 

At  times  I  almost  determined  to 
make  the  venture;  but  the  recollection  of  that  night  when  I 
stood  on  the  stage  of  the  Bowery  Theater  and  was  unable  to 
utter  a  word  above  a  whisper,  would  cause  me  to  stop  and  think 
and  become  irresolute.  I  feared  that  I  would  be  a  total 
failure,  and  wrote  Buntline  to  that  effect.  But  he  insisted 
that  I  would  soon  get  over  all  that  embarrassment,  and  become 
accustomed  to  the  stage,  so  that  I  would  think  no  more  of  ap- 
pearing before  five  thousand  people  than  I  would  before  half  a 
dozen.  He  proposed  to  organize  a  good  company,  and  wished 
me  to  meet  him  in  Chicago,  where  the  opening  performance 
would  be  given. 

I  remained  undecided  as  to  what  I  ought  to  do.  The  officers 
at  the  fort,  as  well  as  my  family  and  friends  to  whom  I  had  men- 
tioned the  matter,  laughed  at  the  idea  of  my  ever  becoming  an 
actor.  That  I,  an  old  scout  who  had  never  seen  more  than  twenty 
or  thirty  theatrical  performances* in  my  life,  should  think  of  go- 
ing upon  the  stage,  was  ridiculous  in  the  extreme  —  so  they  all 
said. 

A  few  days  after  my  election  to  the  Legislature  a  happy  event 
occurred  in  my  family  circle,  in  the  birth  of  a  daughter  whom 
we  named  Ora;  about  the  same  time  I  received  another  letter 
from  Buntline,  in  which  he  requested  me  to  appear  on  the  stage 
for  a  few  months  as  an  experiment ;  and  he  said  that  if  I  made 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


645 


a  failure  or  did  not  like  the  business,  I  could  easily  return  to  my 
old  life. 

My  two  sisters  who  had  been  living  with  us  had  married  — 
Nellie,  to  A.  C.  Jester,  a  cattle  man,  and  May,  to  Ed.  Bradford, 
a  railroad  engineer  —  and  consequently  left  us;  and  my  wife 
had  been  wishing  for  a  long  time  to  visit  her  parents  in  St. 
Louis.  Taking  these  and  other  things  into  consideration  I  finally 
resolved  to  resign  my  seat  in  the  Legislature  and  try  my  luck 
behind  the  foot-lights. 
I  informed  General  Rey- 
nolds of  my  determina- 
tion, telling  him  at  the 
same  time  that  at  the  end 
of  the  month,  November, 
I  would  resign  my  posi- 
tion under  him.  The 
General  regretted  to  hear 
this,  and  advised  me  not 
to  take  the  step,  for  I 
was  leaving  a  comfort- 
able little  home,  where  I 
was  sure  of  making  a 
good  living  for  my 
family;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  I  was  em- 
barking upon  a  sea  of 
uncertainty.  Having  TEXAS  JACK  (j.  B.  OMOHUNDRO). 

once  made  up  my  mind,  however,  nothing  could  change  it. 

ARRANGING  THE  PRELIMINARIES. 

While  I  was  selling  my  horses  and  other  effects,  preparatory 
to  leaving  the  fort,  one  of  my  brother  scouts,  Texas  Jack,  said 
he  would  like  to  accompany  me.  Now  as  Jack  had  also  appeared 
as  the  hero  in  one  of  Ned  Buntline's  stories,  I  thought  that  he 
would  make  as  good  a  "  star  "  as  myself,  and  it  was  accordingly 
arranged  tha*  Jack  should  go  with  me.  On  our  way  east  we 


646  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

stopped  in  Omaha  a  day  or  two  to  visit  General  Augur  and  other 
officers,  and  also  the  gentlemen  who  were  out  on  the  Judge 
Dundy  Hunt.  Judge  Dundy  and  his  friends  gave  a  dinner  party 
in  my  honor  at  the  leading  restaurant  and  entertained  me  very 
handsomely  during  my  stay  in  the  city. 

At  Omaha  I  parted  with  my  family,  who  went  to  St.  Louis, 
while  Jack  and  myself  proceeded  to  Chicago.  Ned  Buntline  and 
Mr.  Milligan,  having  been  apprised  of  our  coming  by  a  telegram, 
met  us  at  the  depot.  Mr.  Milligan  accompanied  us  to  the  Sher- 
man house,  where  he  had  made  arrangements  for  us  to  be  his 
guests  while  we  remained  in  the  city.  I  didn't  see  much  of 
Buntline  that  evening,  as  he  hurried  off  to  deliver  a  temperance 
lecture  in  one  of  the  public  halls.  The  next  day  we  met  him  by 
appointment,  and  the  first  thing  he  said,  was:  — 

"  Boys,  are  you  ready  for  business?  " 

"  I  can't  answer  that,"  replied  I,  "  for  we  don't  know  what 
we  are  going  to  do." 

"It's  all  arranged,"  said  he,  "  and  you'll  have  no  trouble 
whatever.  Come  with  me.  We'll  go  and  see  Nixon,  manager 
of  the  Amphitheater.  That's  the  place  where  we  are  to  play. 
We'll  open  there  next  Monday  night."  Jack  and  myself  ac- 
cordingly accompanied  him  to  Manager  Nixon's  office  without 
saying  a  word,  as  we  didn't  know  what  to  say. 

"Here  we  are,  Mr.  Nixon,"  said  Buntline;  "here  are  the 
stars  for  you.  Here  are  the  boys ;  and  they  are  a  fine  pair  to 
draw  to.  Now,  Nixon,  I  am  prepared  for  business." 

Nixon  and  Buntline  had  evidently  had  a  talk  about  the  terms 
of  our  engagement.  Buntline,  it  seems,  was  to  furnish  the  com- 
pany, the  drama,  and  the  pictorial  printing,  and  was  to  receive 
sixty  per  cent,  of  the  gross  receipts  for  his  share;  while  Nixon 
was  to  furnish  the  theater,  the  attaches,  the  orchestra,  and  the 
local  printing,  and  receive  forty  per  cent,  of  the  gross  receipts. 

NOW,  HERE'S  A  HOW  D'DO. 

"  I  am  ready  for  you,  Buntline.  Have  you  got  your  company 
yet?"  asked  Nixon. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  647 

"No,  sir;  but  there  are  plenty  of  idle  theatrical  people  in 
town,  and  I  can  raise  a  company  in  two  hours,"  was  his  reply. 

"You  haven't  much  time  to  spare,  if  you  open  on  Monday 
night,"  said  Nixon.  "If  you  will  allow  me  to  look  at  your 
drama,  to  see  what  kind  of  people  you  want,  I'll  assist  you  in 
organizing  your  company." 

"  I  have  not  yet  written  the  drama,"  said  Buntline. 

"  "What  the  deuce  do  you  mean?  This  is  Wednesday,  and  you 
propose  to  open  on  next  Monday  night.  The  idea  is  ridiculous. 
Here  you  are  at  this  late  hour  without  a  company  and  without  a 
diama.  This  will  never  do,  Buntline.  I  shall  have  to  break  my 
contract  with  you,  for  you  can't  possibly  write  a  drama,  cast  it, 
4  nd  rehearse  it  properly  for  Monday  night.  Furthermore,  you 
have  no  pictorial  printing  as  yet.  These  two  gentlemen,  whom 
you  have  with  you,  have  never  been  on  the  stage,  and  they  cer- 
tainly must  have  time  to  study  their  parts.  It  is  preposterous  to 
think  of  opening  on  Monday  night,  and  I'll  cancel  the  engage- 
ment." 

This  little  speech  was  delivered  in  rather  an  excited  manner  by 
M~\  Nixon.  Buntline  said  that  he  would  write  the  drama  that 
day  and  also  select  his  company  and  have  them  at  the  theater  for 
rehearsal  next  morning.  Nixon  laughed  at  him,  and  said  there 
was  no  use  of  trying  to  undertake  anything  of  the  kind  in  so 
short  a  time  —  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  do  it.  Buntline, 
whose  ire  was  rising,  said  to  Nixon:  "  What  rent  will  you  ask 
for  your  theater  for  next  week  ?  ' ' 

"  Six  hundred  dollars,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Well,  sir,  I'll  take  your  theater  for  next  week  at  that  price, 
and  here  is  half  the  amount  in  advance,"  said  Buntline,  as  he 
threw  down  three  hundred  dollars  on  the  stand.  Nixon  took  the 
money,  gave  a  receipt  for  it,  and  had  nothing  more  to  say. 

"  Now,  come  with  me  boys,"  said  Buntline,  and  away  we  went 
to  the  hotel.  Buntline  immediately  obtained  a  supply  of  pens, 
ink  and  paper,  and  then  engaged  all  the  hotel  clerks  as  penmen. 
In  less  than  an  hour  after  he  had  rented  the  theater,  he  was  dash- 
ing off  page  after  page  of  his  proposed  drama  —  the  work  being 


648 


STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 


done  in  his  room  at  the  hotel.  He  then  set  his  clerks  at  copying 
for  him,  and  at  the  end  of  four  hours  he  jumped  up  from  the 
table,  and  enthusiastically  shouted ;  "Hurrah  for  'The  Scouts 
of  the  Plains ! '  That's  the  name  of  the  play.  The  work  is 
done.  Hurrah!" 

The  parts  were  then  copied  off  separately  by  the  clerks,  and 
handing  us  our  respective  portions  Buntline  said:  "  Now,  boys, 
go  to  work,  and  do  your  level  best  to  have  this  dead-letter  per- 
fect for  the  rehearsal,  which  takes  place  to-morrow  morning  at  ten 

o'clock,  prompt.  I  want  to  show 
Nixon  that  we'll  be  ready  on 
time." 

I  looked  at  my  part  and  then 
at  Jack ;  and  Jack  looked  at  his 
part  and  then  at  me,  Then  we 
looked  at  each  other,  and  then 
at  Buntline.  We  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  the  man. 

"  How  long  will  it  take  to 
commit  your  part  to  memory, 
Bill?"  asked  Jack. 

"  About  six  months,  as  near 
as  I  can  calculate.  How  long 
will  it  take  you?  "  answered  I. 

"  It  will  take  me  about  that 
length  of  time  to  learn  the  first 
line,"  said  Jack.     Nevertheless 
STUDYING  THK  PARTS.  we  went  to   our  room  and  com- 

menced studying.  I  thought  it  was  the  hardest  work  I  had  ever 
done. 

"  This  is  dry  business,"  finally  remarked  Jack. 
"  That's  just  what  it  is,"  I  answered  ;  "  jerk  the  bell,  Jack." 
The  bell-boy  soon  appeared.  We  ordered  refreshments;  after 
partaking  thereof  we  resumed  our  task.  We  studied  hard  for 
an  hour  or  two,  but  finally  gave  it  up  as  a  bad  job,  although  we 
had  succeeded  in  committing  a  small  portion  to  memory.  Bunt- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  649 

line  now  came  into  the  room  and  said:  "Boys,  how  are  you 
getting  along?  " 

"  I  guess  we'll  have  to  go  back  on  this  studying  business  as  it 
isn't  our  forte,"  said  I. 

"  Don't  weaken  now,  Bill ;  you'll  come  out  on  the  top  of  the 
heap  yet.  Let  me  hear  you  recite  your  part,"  said  Buntline.  I 
began  "  spouting  "  what  I  had  learned,  but  was  interrupted  by 
Buntline:  "Tut!  tut!  you're  not  saying  it  right.  You  must 
stop  at  the  cue." 

* '  Cue  !  What  the  mischief  do  you  mean  by  the  cue  ?  I  never 
saw  any  cue  except  in  a  billiard  room,"  said  I.  Buntline  there- 
upon explained  it  to  me,  as  well  as  to  Jack,  who  was  ignorant 
as  myself  concerning  the  "  cue  "  business. 

''Jack,  I  think  we  had  better  back  out  and  go  to  hunting 
again,"  said  I. 

THE  TIDE  TAKEN  AT  THE  FLOOD. 

"  See  here,  boys;  it  won't  do  to  go  back  on  me  at  this  stage 
of  the  game.  Stick  to  it,  and  it  may  be  the  turning  point  in 
your  lives  and  lead  you  on  to  fortune  and. to  fame." 

"  A  fortune  is  what  we  are  after,  and  we'll  at  least  give  the 
wheel  a  turn  or  two  to  see  what  luck  we  have,"  said  I.  This 
satisfied  Buntline,  but  we  didn't  study  any  more  after  he  left  us. 
The  next  morning  we  appeared  at  rehearsal  and  was  introduced 
to  the  company.  The  first  rehearsal  was  hardly  a  success  ;  and 
the  succeeding  ones  were  not  much  better.  The  stage  manager 
did  his  best  to  teach  Jack  and  myself  what  to  do,  but  when 
Monday  night  come  we  didn't  know  much  more  about  it  than 
when  we  began. 

The  clock  struck  seven,  and  then  we  put  on  our  buckskin  suits, 
which  were  the  costumes  we  were  to  appear  in.  The  theater 
was  being  rapidly  filled,  and  it  was  evident  that  we  were  going 
to  make  our  debut  before  a  packed  house.  As  the  minutes  passed 
by,  Jack  and  I  became  more  and  more  nervous.  We  occasionally 
looked  through  the  holes  in  the  curtain,  and  saw  that  the  people 
were  continuing  to  crowd  into  the  theater;  our  nervousness  increased 
to  an  uncomfortable  decree. 


650 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 


When  at  length  the  curtain  arose,  our  courage  had  returned, 
so  that  we  thought  we  could  face  the  immense  crowd  ;  yet  when 
the  time  came  for  us  to  go  on,  we  were  rather  slow  in  making 
our  appearance.  As  we  stepped  forth  we  were  received  with  a 
storm  of  applause,  which  we  acknowledged  with  a  bow. 

Buntline,  who  was  taking  the  part  of  "  Gale  Durg,"  appeared, 
and  gave  me  the  "  cue  "  to  speak  "  my  little  piece,"  but  for  the 
life  of  me  I  could  not  remember  a  single  word.  Buntline  saw  I 


BEHIND    THE    FOOTLIGHTS. 

was  "  stuck,"  and  a  happy  thought  occurred  to  him.     He  said, 
as  if  it  were  in  the  play : 

A    LITTLE    FUNNY    BUSINESS. 

"  Where  have  you  been,  Bill?  What  has  kept  you  so  long?  " 
Just  then  my  eye  happened  to  fall  on  Mr.  Milligan,  who  was 
surrounded  by  his  friends,  the  newspaper  reporters,  and  several 
military  officers,  all  of  whom  had  heard  of  his  hunt  and  "  Indian 
fight" — he  being  a  very  popular  man,  and  widely  known  in 
Chicago.  So  I  said:  — 

"  I  have  been  out  on  a  hunt  with  Milligan." 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  651 

This  proved  to  be  a  big  bit.  Tbe  audience  cheered  and  ap- 
plauded, which  gave  me  greater  confidence  in  my  ability  to  get 
through  the  performance  all  right.  Buntline ,  who  was  a  very  ver- 
satile man,  saw  that  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  follow  this  up 
and  said:  "  Well,  Bill,  tell  us  all  about  the  hunt."  I  thereupon 
proceeded  to  relate  in  detail  the  particulars  of  the  affair.  I 
succeeded  in  making  it  rather  funny,  and  I  was  frequently 
interrupted  by  rounds  of  applause.  Whenever  I  began  to 
"  weaken,"  Buntline  would  give  me  a  fresh  start,  by  asking 
some  question.  In  this  way  I  took  up  fifteen  minutes,  without 
once  speaking  a  word  of  my  part;  nor  did  I  speak  a  word  of  it 
during  the  whole  evening.  The  prompter,  who  was  standing 
between  the  wings,  attempted  to  prompt  me,  but  it  did  no  good; 
for  while  I  was  on  the  stage  I « *  chipped  in ' '  anything  I  thought  of. 

The  "  Scouts  of  the  Plains  "  was  an  Indian  drama,  of  course ; 
and  there  were  between  forty  and  fifty  "  supers  "  dressed  as  In- 
dians. In  the  fight  with  them,  Jack  and  I  were  at  home.  We 
blazed  away  at  each  other  with  blank  cartridges ;  and  when  the 
scene  ended  in  a  hand-to-hand  encounter  —  a  general  knock- 
down and  drag-out  —  the  way  Jack  and  I  killed  Indians  was  "  a 
caution."  We  would  kill  them  all  off  in  one  act,  but  they 
would  come  up  again  ready  for  business  in  the  next.  Finally 
the  curtain  dropped,  the  play  was  ended,  and  I  congratulated 
Jack  and  myself  on  having  made  such  a  brilliant  and  successful 
debut.  There  was  no  backing  out  after  that. 

CRITICISMS    OF   THE   PRESS. 

The  next  morning  there  appeared  in  the  Chicago  papers  some 
funny  criticisms  on  our  first  performance.  The  papers  gave  us  a 
better  send-off  than  I  expected,  for  they  did  not  criticise  us  as 
actors.  The  Chicago  Times  said  that  if  Buntline  had  actually 
spent  four  hours  in  writing  that  play,  it  was  difficult  for  anyone 
to  see  what  he  had  been  doing  all  the  time.  Buntline,  as  "  Cale 
Durg,"  was  killed  in  the  second  act,  after  a  long  temperance 
speech;  and  the  Inter-Ocean  said  that  it  was  to  be  regretted 
that  he  had  not  been  killed  in  the  first  act.  The  company,  how- 


652  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


ever,  was  very  good,  and  M'dlle.  Morlacchi,  as  "  Pale  Dove," 
particularly  fine;  while  Miss  Cafarno  "  spouted"  a  poem  of 
some  seven  hundred  and  three  verses,  more  or  less,  of  which 
the  reader  will  be  glad  to  know  that  I  only  recall  the  words  '*  I 
was  born  in  March." 

Our  engagement  proved  a  decided  success  financially,  if  not 
artistically.  Nixon  was  greatly  surprised  at  the  result,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  week  he  induced  Buntline  to  take  him  in  as  a 
partner  in  the  company. 

The  next  week  we  played  at  DeBar's  Opera  House,  in  St. 
Louis,  doing  an  immense  business.  The  following  week  we 
were  at  Cincinnati,  where  the  theater  was  so  crowded  every 
night  that  hundreds  were  unable  to  obtain  admission.  We  met 
with  equal  success  all  over  the  country.  Theatrical  managers, 
upon  hearing  of  this  new  and  novel  combination,  which  was 
drawing  such  tremendous  houses,  were  all  anxious  to  secure  us; 
and  we  received  offers  of  engagements  at  all  the  leading 

o    o  o 

theaters.  We  played  one  week  at  the  Boston  Theater,  and  the 
gross  receipts  amounted  to  $16,200.  We  also  appeared  at  Nib- 
lo's  Garden,  New  York,  the  theater  being  crowded  to  its  utmost 
capacity  every  night  of  the  engagement.  At  the  Arch  Street 
Theater,  Philadelphia,  it  was  the  same  way.  There  was  not  a 
single  city  where  we  did  not  have  crowded  houses. 

We  closed  our  tour  on  the  16th  of  June,  1873,  at  Port  Jervis, 
New  York,  and  when  I  counted  up  my  share  of  the  profits  I 
found  that  I  was  only  about  $6,000  ahead.  I  was  somewhat  dis- 
appointed, for,  judging  from  our  large  business,  I  certainly  had 
expected  a  greater  sum. 

Texas  Jack  and  myself  longed  for  a  hunt  on  the  Western 
prairies  once  more;  and  on  meeting  in  New  York  a  party  of  gen- 
tlemen who  were  desirous  of  going  with  us,  we  all  started  west- 
ward, and  after  a  pleasant  trip  arrived  at  Fort  McPherson. 

LIVELY    EXPERIENCES    OF    WILD    BILL. 

Texas  Jack  and  I  spent  several  weeks  hunting  in  the  western 
part  of  Nebraska,  and  after  this  pleasant  recreation  we  went  tc> 


1 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


653 


New  Y'ork  and  organized  a  theatrical  company  for  the  season  of 
1873-74.  Among  the  people  we  engaged  for  our  next  tour  was 
Wild  Bill,  whose  name,  we  knew,  would  be  a  drawing  card. 
Bill  did  not  think  well  of  our  enterprise  on  account  of  our  un- 
familiarity  with  the  stage,  but  a  large  salary  forced  him  to  forego 
his  diffidence  before  the  public,  and  he  accordingly  made  his 
debut  as  an  actor.  He  remained  with  us  during  a  greater  part  of 
the  season,  much  to  our  advantage,  and  would  have  continued 
but  for  a  demoralizing  habit  that  compelled  us  to  part  with 


WILD   BILL'S   IMPROMPTU    PERFORMANCE. 

him.  The  habit  to  which  I  refer  was  that  of  firing  blank  cart- 
ridges at  the  legs  of  the  supers,  often  burning  them  severely  and 
at  times  almost  bringing  our  performance  to  a  ridiculous  close. 
I  remonstrated  with  him  time  and  again,  but  all  to  no  purpose, 
and  at  last,  worn  out  with  expostulations,  I  reluctantly  told  him 
he  must  either  quit  shooting  the  supers  or  leave  the  company. 
Without  making  any  reply  he  retired  to  the  dressing  room  and 
there  changing  his  clothes  he  elbowed  his  way  out  through  the 
audience,  leaving  word  with  the  stage-carpenter  that  I  could  go 


654  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

to  thunder  with  my  show.  I  met  him  later  in  the  evening  and 
tried  to  persuade  him  to  remain  with  me,  but  to  no  avail,  and 
finding  him  determined  Jack  and  I  paid  him  his  wages  and  gave 
him  an  extra  purse  of  $1,000,  with  which  he  bade  us  good- 
bye. 

The  next  I  heard  of  Wild  Bill  was  as  a  star  at  the  head  of  a 
would-be  rival  organization  that  soon  went  to  pieces.  Bill 
left  the  troupe  under  the  belief  that  it  had  disbanded,  but 
he  directly  after  learned  that  the  company  had  reorganized 
and  were  presenting  the  same  play  with  an  actor  personating 
him.  When  Bill  ascertained  this  fact  he  sent  a  letter  to  the 
manager  demanding  that  the  name  of  Wild  Bill  be  stricken  from 
the  advertisements,  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  his  objections. 
Determined  to  stop  the  bogus  exhibition  Bill  went  to  a  town 
where  the  company  was  announced  to  appear  and,  purchasing  a 
ticket,  took  a  seat  near  the  orchestra,  ready  for  business.  When 
the  bogus  character  at  length  appeared  Bill  jumped  over  the  foot- 
lights and  seizing  his  personator,  threw  him  through  one  of  the 
scenes,  and  then  knocked  down  the  manager,  who  was  dressed 
in  the  disguise  of  an  Indian,  and  kicked  him  over  the  lights  and 
onto  the  fellow  who  was  blowing  a  big  horn  in  the  orchestra. 
The  excitement  broke  up  the  performance  and  Bill  was  arrested, 
but  was  let  off  with  a  fine  of  three  dollars,  which  he  cheerfully 
paid  for  so  happy  a  privilege,  after  which  he  went  West  and 
participated  in  several  adventures  of  a  thrilling  character,  a 
description  of  which,  however,  does  not  properly  belong  here. 

A   HUNT  WITH   MR.  MEDLEY. 

Jack  and  I  played  a  very  successful  season,  closing  at  Boston 
on  the  13th  of  May,  1874.  Business  called  me  to  New  York, 
and  while  attending  to  several  matters  preparatory  to  returning 
to  the  West,  I  met  an  English  gentleman,  Thomas  P.  Medley, 
of  London,  who  had  come  to  America  for  a  hunt  on  the  plains. 
He  had  often  heard  of  me  and  was  anxious  to  engage  me  as  his 
guide  and  companion,  and  he  offered  to  pay  the  liberal  salary  of 
one  thousand  dollars  a  month  while  I  was  with  him.  He  was  a 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL, 


655 


to    sleep 
ground  in 


the    o 


eery  wealthy  man,  as  I  learned  upon  haqoiry,  aad  was  a  relative 
of  Mr.  Lord,  of  the  firm  of  Lord  &  Taylor,  of  New  York.  Of 
course  I  accepted  his 
offer. 

When  we  reached 
the  hunting  ground 
in  Nebraska,  he  in- 
formed me,  some- 
wnat  to  my  surprise, 
that  he  did  not  want 
to  go  out  as  Alexis 
did,  with  carriages, 
servants,  and  other 
luxuries,  but  that  he 
wished  to  rough  it 
just  as  I  would  do  — 
on 

the   open 

air,  and  kill  and  cook 
his  own  meat.  We 
started  out  from 
North  Platte,  and 
spent  several  weeks 
in  hunting  all  over 
the  country. 

Mr.  Medley  proved 
to  be  a  very  agree- 
able gentleman  and 
an  excellent  hunter. 
While  in  camp  he 
busied  himself  carry- 
ing wood  and  water, 
attending  to  the  fire, 
and  preparing  and  cooking  the  meals,  never  asking  me  to  do  a 
thing.  He  did  not  perform  these  menial  services  to  save  expenses, 
but  because  he  wanted  to  do  as  the  other  hunters  in  the  party 


65 6  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

were  doing.  After  spending  as  much  time  as  he  wished,  we  re- 
turned to  the  railroad,  and  he  took  the  train  for  the  East.  Every- 
thing that  was  required  on  this  hunt  was  paid  for  in  a  most  liberal 
manner  by  Mr.  Medley,  who  also  gave  the  members  of  the  party 
several  handsome  presents. 

About  this  time  an  expedition  consisting  of  seven  companies 
of  cavalry  and  two  companies  of  infantry,  to  be  commanded 
by  Colonel  Mills  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  was  being  organized  to 
scout  the  Powder  river  and  Big  Horn  country,  and  I  was  em- 
ployed as  guide  for  the  command.  Proceeding  to  Rawlins, 
Wyoming,  we  "outfitted,"  and  other  guides  were  engaged  — 
among  them  Tom  Sun  and  Bony  Ernest,  two  noted  Rocky 
mountain  scouts.  We  there  left  the  railroad,  and  passing 
through  the  Seminole  range  of  the  Rocky  mountains  we  estab- 
lished our  supply  camp  at  the  foot  of  Independence  Rock  on  the 
Sweet  Water.  I  was  now  on  my  old  familiar  stamping  ground, 
and  it  seemed  like  home  to  me.  Fifteen  years  before,  I  had  rid- 
den the  pony  express  and  driven  the  overland  stages  through 
this  region,  and  the  command  was  going  into  the  same  section  of 
country  where  Wild  Bill's  expedition  of  stage-drivers  and  ex- 
press-riders had  recaptured  from  the  Indians  a  large  number  of 
stolen  stage-horses,  as  previously  related. 

Leaving  the  infantry  to  guard  the  supply  camp,  Colonel  Mills 
struck  out  for  the  north  with  the  seven  companies  of  cavalry, 
and  in  a  few  days  surprised  Little  Wolf's  band  of  Arapahoes  and 
drove  them  into  the  agencies.  We  then  scouted  the  Powder 
river,  Crazy  Woman's  fork,  and  Clear  fork,  and  then  pushed 
westward  through  the  mountains  to  the  Wind  river.  After  hav- 
ing been  out  for  a  month  or  two  we  were  ordered  to  return. 

c 

I  immediately  went  East  and  organized  another  dramatic  com- 
pany for  the  season  of  1874-75,  Texas  Jack  being  absent  in  the 
Yellowstone  country  hunting  with  the  Earl  of  Dunraven.  I 
played  my  company  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  country, 
doing  a  good  business  wherever  I  went.  The  summer  of  1875  I 
spent  at  Rochester  with  my  family. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  657 

DEATH    OF  MY  ONLY  LITTLE  BOY. 

For  the  season  of  1875-76,  Texas  Jack  and  I  reorganized  our 
old  combination,  and  made  a  very  successful  tour.  While  we 
were  playing  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  April  20th  and  21st,, 
1876,  a  telegram  was  handed  me  just  as  I  was  going  on  the  stage. 
J  opened  it  and  found  it  to  be  from  Colonel  G.  W.  Torrence,  of 
Rochester,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  family,  who  stated  that  my 
little  boy  Kit  was  dangerously  ill  with  the  scarlet  fever.  This 
was  indeed  sad  news,  for  little  Kit  had  always  been  my  greatest 
pride.  I  sent  for  John  Burke,  our  business  manager,  and  show- 
ing him  the  telegram,  told  him  that  I  would  play  the  first  act, 
and  making  a  proper  excuse  to  the  audience,  I  would  then  take 
the  nine  o'clock  [train  that  same  evening  for  Rochester,  leaving 
him  to  play  out  my  part.  This  I  did,  and  at  ten  o'clock  the 
next  morning  I  arrived  in  Rochester,  and  was  met  at  the  depot 
by  my  intimate  friend  Moses  Kerngood  who  at  once  drove  me 
to  my  home.  I  found  my  little  boy  unable  to  speak  but  he 
seemed  to  recognize  me  and  putting  his  little  arms  around  my 
neck  he  tried  to  kiss  me.  We  did  everything  in  our  power  tc 
save  him,  but  it  was  of  no  avail.  The  Lord  claimed  his  own, 
and  that  evening  at  six  o'clock  my  beloved  little  Kit  died  in  my 
arms.  We  laid  him  away  to  rest  in  the  beautiful  cemetery  of 
Mount  Hope  amid  sorrow  and  tears. 

4* 


658 


STORr   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


SCOUTING    WITH  THE  FIFTH  CAVALRY. 

E  dosed  our  theatrical  season 
^^     earlier   than   usual  in    the 
spring   of   1876,  because  I 
was  anxious  to  take  part  in 
the    Sioux  war  which 
was  then  breaking  out. 

o 

Colonel  Mills  had  writ- 
ten me  several  letters  say- 
ing that  General  Crook  was 
anxious  to  have  me  accom- 
pany his  command,  and  I 
promised  to  do  so,  intending  to  overtake  him  in  the  Powder 
river  country.  But  when  I  arrived  at  Chicago,  on  my  way 
west,  I  learned  that  my  old  regiment,  the  gallant  Fifth  Cavalry, 
was  on  its  way  back  from  Arizona  to  join  General  Crook,  and 
that  my  old  commander,  General  Carr,  was  in  command.  He 
had  written  to  military  headquarters  at  Chicago  to  learn  my 
whereabouts,  as  he  wished  to  secure  me  as  his  guide  and  chief 
of  scouts.  I  then  gave  up  the  idea  of  overtaking  General  Crook, 
and  hastening  on  to  Cheyenne,  where  the  Fifth  Cavalry  had  al- 
ready arrived,  I  was  met  at  the  depot  by  Lieutenant  King,  adju- 
tant of  the  regiment,  he  having  been  sent  down  from  Fort  D. 
A.  Russell  for  that  purpose  by  General  Carr,  who  had  learned 
by  a  telegram  from  military  headquarters  at  Chicago  that  I  was 
on  the  way.  I  accompanied  the  lieutenant  on  horseback  to  the 
camp,  and  as  we  rode,  one  of  the  boys  shouted,  "  Here's  Buffalo 
Bill!'  Soon  after  there  came  three  hearty  cheers  from  the 
regiment.  Officers  and  men  were  all  glad  to  see  me,  and  I  was 
equally  delighted  to  meet  them  once  more.  The  General  at 
once  appointed  me  his  guide  and  chief  of  scouts. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OP  BUFFALO  BILL 


659 


The  next  morning  the  command  pulled  out  for  Fort  Laramie, 
and  on  reaching  the  post  we  found  General  Sheridan  there,  ac- 
companied by  General  Frye  and  General  Forsyth,  en  route  to  Ked 
Cloud  agency.  As  the  command  was  to  remain  here  a  few  days, 


SIOUX     INDIANS     DESTROYING 
THE   TELEGRAPH    LINE. 

,  x  accompanied  General 
Sheridan  to  Red  Cloud 
and  back,  taking  a  com- 
pany of  cavalry  as 
escort. 

The  Indians  having  recently  committed  a  great  many  depreda- 
tions on  the  Union  Pacific  railroad,  destroying  telegraph  lines, 
and  also  on  the  Black  Hills  road  running  off  stock,  the  Fifth 
Cavalry  was  sent  out  to  scout  the  country  between  the  Indian 
agencies  and  the  hills.  The  command  operated  ot,  t^c  South 
fork  of  the  Cheyenne  and  at  the  foot  of  the  Black  Hills  for 
about  two  weeks,  having  several  small  engagements  with  roving 


660  STOEY  OF(  THE   WILD   WEST. 

bands  of  Indians  during  the  time.  General  Wesley  Merritt— 
who  had  lately  received  his  promotion  to  the  Colonelcy  of  the 
Fifth  Cavalry  —  now  came  out  and  took  control  of  the  regiment. 
I  was  sorry  that  the  command  was  taken  from  General  Carr, 
because  under  him  it  had  made  its  fighting  reputation.  How- 
ever, upon  becoming  acquainted  with  General  Merritt,  I  found 
him  to  be  an  excellent  officer. 

6EPORT  OF  THE  OUSTER   MASSACRE  AND  CAUSES  LEADING  THERETO. 

The  regiment,  by  continued  scouting,  soon  drove  the  Indians 
tut  of  that  section  of  the  country,  as  we  supposed,  and  we  had 
started  on  our  way  back  to  Fort  Laramie,  when  a  scout  arrived 
at  the  camp  and  reported  the  massacre  of  General  Custer  and  his 
band  of  heroes  on  the  Little  Big  Horn,  on  the  25th  of  June,  1876  ; 
and  he  also  brought  orders  to  General  Merritt  to  proceed  at  once 
to  Fort  Fetterman  and  join  General  Crook  in  the  Big  Horn  county. 

The  extraordinary  and  sorrowful  interest  attaching  to  the  de- 
stv notion  of  Custer  and  his  brave  followers,  felt  by  the  whole 
civilized  world,  prompts  me  to  give  herewith  a  brief  description 
of  the  causes  leading  thereto,  and  some  of  the  details  of  that 
horrible  sacrifice  which  so  melts  the  heart  to  pity. 

When  the  Black  Hills  gold  fever  first  broke  out  in  1874,  a 
msh  of  miners  into  that  country  resulted  in  much  trouble,  as  the 
Indians  always  regarded  that  region  with  jealous  interest,  and 
resisted  all  encroachments  of  white  men.  Instead  of  the  Gov- 
ernment adhering  to  the  treaty  of  1868  and  restraining  white 
men  from  going  into  the  Hills,  Gen.  Custer  was  sent  out,  in  1874, 
to  intimidate  the  Sioux.  The  unrighteous  spirit  of  this  order 
the  General  wisely  disregarded,  but  proceeded  to  Prospect  Val- 
ley, and  from  there  he  pushed  on  to  the  valley  of  the  Little 
Missouri.  Custer  expected  to  find  good  grazing  ground  in  this 
valley,  suitable  for  a  camp  which  he  intended  to  pitch  there  for 
several  days,  and  reconnoiter,  but  the  country  was  comparatively 
barren  and  the  march  was  therefore  continued  to  the  Belle 
Fourche  valley,  where  excellent  grazing,  water,  and  plenty  of 
wood  was  found. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  661 

Crossing  the  Fourche  the  expedition  was  now  among  the  out- 
lying ranges  of  the  Hills,  where  a  camp  was  made  and  some 
reconnoitering  done;  but  finding  no  Indians,  Gen.  Custer  con- 
tinued his  march,  skirting  the  Black  Hills  and  passing  through 
a  country  which  he  described  as  beautiful  beyond  description, 
abounding  with  a  most  luxurious  vegetation,  cool,  crystal 
streams,  a  profusion  of  gaudy,  sweet  smelling  flowers,  and 
plenty  of  game. 

Proceeding  down  this   lovely  valley,  which  he  appropriately 
named   Floral  Park,  an  Indian  camp-fire,  recently  abandoned, 
was  discovered,  and  fearing  a  collision  unless  pains  were  taken 
to  prevent  it,  Custer  halted  and  sent  out  his  chief  scout,  Bloody 
Knife,  with  twenty  friendly  Indian  allies  to  trail  the  departed 
Sioux.     They  had  gone  but  a  short   distance  when,  as    Custer 
himself  relates:   "  Two  of  Bloody  Knife's  young  men  came  gal- 
loping back  and  informed  me  that  they  had  discovered  five  In- 
dian lodges  a  few  miles  down  the  valley,  and  that  Bloody  Knife, 
as  directed,  had  concealed  his  party  in  a  wooded  ravine,  where 
they  awaited  further  orders.     Taking  E  company  with  me,  which 
was  afterward  reinforced  by  the  remainder  of  the  scouts  and  Col. 
Hart's  company,  I  proceeded  to.  the  ravine  where  Bloody  Knife 
and  his  party  lay  concealed,  and  from  the  crest  beyond  obtained 
a  full  view  of  the  five  Indian  lodges,  about  which  a  considerable 
number  of  ponies  were  grazing.      I  was  enabled  to    place  my 
command  still  nearer  to  the   lodges  undiscovered.     I  then  dis- 
patched Agard,  the  interpreter,  with  a  flag  of  truce,  accompanied 
by  ten  of  our  Sioux  scouts,  to  acquaint  the  occupants  of   the 
lodges  that  we  were  friendly  disposed  and  desired  to  communi- 
cate with  them.     To  prevent  either  treachery  or  flight  on  their 
part,  I  galloped  the  remaining  portion  of  my  advance  and  sur- 
rounded the  lodges.     This  was  accomplished  almost  before  they 
were  aware  of  our  presence.     I  then  entered  the  little  village  and 
shook  hands  with  its  occupants,  assuring  them  through  the  inter- 
preter, that  they  had  no  cause  to  fear,  as  we  were  not  there  to 
molest  them,  etc." 

Finding  there  was  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  Gen.  Custer 


662  8TORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

to  harm  them,  the  Indians  dispatched  a  courier  to  their  principal 
village,  requesting  the  warriors  to  be  present  at  a  council  with 
the  whites.  This  council  was  held  on  the  following  day,  but 
though  Custer  dispensed  coffee,  sugar,  bacon  and  other  presents 
to  the  Indians,  his  advice  to  them  regarding  the  occupation  of 
their  country  by  miners  was  treated  with  indifference,  for  which, 
he  observes  in  his  official  report,  "  I  cannot  blame  the  poor  sav- 
ages." 

MINERS    IN   THE    BLACK    HILLS. 

During  the  summer  of  1875  Gen.  Crook  made  several  trips 
into  the  Black  Hills  to  drive  out  the  miners  and  maintain  the 
government's  faith,  but  while  he  made  many  arrests  there  was 
no  punishment  and  the  whole  proceeding  became  farcical.  In 
August  of  the  same  year  Custer  City  was  laid  out  and  two  weeks 
later  it  contained  a  population  of  six  hundred  souls.  These  Gen. 
Crook  drove  out,  but  as  he  marched  from  the  place  others 
swarmed  in  and  the  population  was  immediately  renewed. 

It  was  this  inability,  or  real  indisposition,  of  the  government 
to  enforce  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1868  that  led  to  the  bitter 
war  with  Sitting  Bull  and  which  terminated  so  disastrously  on 
the  25th  of  June,  1876. 

It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  the  Sioux  Indians,  for  four  years 
immediately  preceding  the  Custer  massacre,  were  regularly  sup- 
plied with  the  most  improved  fire-arms  and  ammunition  by  the 
agencies  at  Brule,  Grand  River,  Standing  Eock,  Fort  Berthold, 
Cheyenne  and  Fort  Peck.  Even  during  the  campaign  of  1876, 
in  the  months  of  May,  June  and  July,  just  before  and  after 
Custer  and  his  band  of  heroes  rode  down  into  the  valley  of  death, 
these  fighting  Indians  received  eleven  hundred  and  twenty  Win- 
Chester  and  Remington  rifles  and  413,000  rounds  of  patent 
ammunition,  besides  large  quantities  of  loose  powder,  lead  and 
primers,  while  during  the  summer  of  1875  they  received  several 
thousand  stand  of  arms  and  more  than  a  million  rounds  of  am- 
munition. With  this  generous  provision  there  is  no  cause  for 
wonder  that  the  Sioux  were  able  to  resist  the  government  and 


664  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

attract  to  their  aid  all  the  dissatisfied  Cheyennes  and  other  In- 
dians in  the  Northwest. 

Besides  a  perfect  fighting  equipment,  all  the  Indians  recog- 
nized in  Sitting  Bull  the  elements  of  a  great  warrior,  one  whose 
superior,  perhaps,  has  never  been  known  among  any  tribe;  he 
combined  all  the  strategic  cunning  of  Tecuinseh  with  the  cruel, 
uncompromising  hatred  of  Black  Kettle,  while  his  leadership  was 
far  superior  to  both.  Having  decided  to  precipitate  a  terrible 
war,  he  chose  his  position  with  consummate  judgment,  selecting 
a  central  vantage  point  surrounded  by  what  is  known  as  the 
"  bad  lands,"  and  then  kept  his  supply  source  open  by  an  as- 
sumed friendship  with  the  Canadian  French.  This  he  was  the 
better  able  to  accomplish,  since  some  years  before  he  had  pro- 
fess d  conversion  to  Christianity  under  the  preaching  of  Father 
DeJmet  and  maintained  a  show  of  great  friendship  for  the  Can- 
adians. 

WAR    DECLARED    AGAINST    THE    SIOUX. 

War  against  the  Sioux  having  been  declared,  brought  ibout 
by  the  combined  causes  of  Black  Hill  outrages  and  Sitting  Bull's 
threatening  attitude,  it  was  decided  to  send  out  three  separate 
expeditions,  one  of  which  should  move  from  the  north,  under 
Gen.  Terry,  from  Fort  Lincoln;  another  from  the  east,  under 
Gen.  Gibbon,  from  Fort  Ellis,  and  another  from  the  south,  under 
Gen.  Crook,  from  Fort  Fetterman;  these  movements  were  to  be 
simultaneous,  and  a  junction  was  expected  to  be  formed  near  the 
headwaters  of  the  Yellowstone  river. 

For  some  cause,  which  I  will  refrain  from  discussing,  the 
commands  did  not  start  at  the  same  time.  Gen.  Crook  did  not 
leave  Fetterman  until  March  1st,  with  seven  hundred  men  and 
forty  days'  supply.  The  command  was  intrusted  to  Col.  Rey- 
nolds, of  the  Third  Cavalry,  accompanied  by  G^en.  Crook,  the 
department  commander.  Nothing  was  heard  of  this  expedition 
until  the  22d  following,  when  Gen.  Crook  forwarded  from  Ft. 
Reno  a  brief  account  of  his  battle  on  Powder  river.  The  result 
of  this  fight,  which  lasted  five  hours,  was  the  destruction  of 
Crazy  Horse's  village  of  one  hundred  and  five  lodges;  or  that 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO   BILL.  665 

is  the  way  the  dispatch  read,  though  many  assert  that  the  battle 
resulted  in  little  else  than  a  series  of  remarkable  blunders  which 
suffered  the  Indians  to  make  good  their  escape,  losing  only  a 
small  quantity  of  their  property. 

One  serious  trouble  arose  out  of  the  Powder  river  fight,  which 
was  found  in  an  assertion  made  by  Gen.  Crook,  or  at  least  at- 
tributed to  him,  that  his  expedition  had  proved  that  instead  of 
there  being  15,000  or  20,000  hostile  Indians  in  the  Black  Hills 
and  Big  Horn  county,  that  the  total  number  would  not  exceed 
2,000.  It  was  upon  this  estimation  that  the  expeditions  were 
prepared. 

The  Terry  column,  which  was  commanded  by  Gen.  Custer, 
consisted  of  twelve  companies  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  and  three 
companies  of  the  Sixth  and  Seventeenth  Infantry,  with  four 
Gatling  guns,  and  a  detachment  of  Indian  scouts.  This  force 
comprised  twenty-eight  officers  and  seven  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  men,  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  eight  officers  and  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  men  of  the  Sixth  and  Seventeenth  Infantry,  two 
officers  and  thirty -two  men  in  charge  of  the  Gatling  battery,  and 
forty-five  enlisted  Indian  scouts,  a  grand  total  of  thirty-eight 
officers  and  nine  hundred  and  fifty-nine  men,  including  scouts. 

The  combined  forces  of  Crook,  Gibbon,  Terry  and  Custer,  did 
not  exceed  twenty^seven  hundred  men,  while  opposed  to  them 
were  fully  17,000  Indians,  all  of  whom  were  provided  with  the 
latest  and  most  improved  patterns  of  repeating  rifles. 

On  the  16th  of  June  Gen.  Crook  started  for  the  Rosebud,  On 
which  stream  it  was  reported  that  Sitting  Bull  and  Crazy  Horse 
were  stationed ;  about  the  same  time  a  party  of  Crow  Indians, 
who  were  operating  with  Gen.  Crook,  returned  from  a  scout  and 
reported  that  Gen.  Gibbon,  who  was  on  Tongue  river,  had  been 
attacked  by  Sitting  Bull,  who  had  captured  several  horses. 
Crook  pushed  on  rapidly  toward  the  Rosebud,  leaving  his  train 
behind  and  mounting  his  infantry  on  mules.  What  were  deemed 
accurate  reports,  stated  that  Sitting  Bull  was  still  on  the  Rose- 
bud, only  sixty  miles  from  the  point  where  Gen.  Crook  camped 
on  the  ni<rht  of  the  15th  of  June.  The  command  traveled  forty 


I 


666 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  667 

miles  on  the  sixteenth,  and  when  within  twenty  miles  of  the 
Sioux'  principal  position,  instead  of  pushing  on,  Gen.  Crook 
went  into  camp. 

ATTACKED    BY   SITTING   BULL. 

The  next  morning  he  was  much  surprised  at  finding  himself 
attacked  by  Sitting  Bull,  who  swooped  down  on  him  with  the 
first  streaks  of  coming  dawn,  and  a  heavy  battle  followed.  Gen. 
Crook,  who  had  camped  in  a  basin  surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
high  hills,  soon  found  his  position  so  dangerous  that  it  must  be 
changed  at  all  hazards.  The  advance  was  therefore  sounded  with 
Noyes'  battalion  occupying  a  position  on  the  right,  Mills  on  the 
right  center,  Chambers  in  the  center,  and  the  Indian  allies  on  the 
left.  Mills  and  Noyes  charged  the  enemy  in  magnificent  style, 
breaking  the  line  and  striking  the  rear.  The  fight  continued  hot 
and  furious  until  2  p.  M.,  when  a  gallant  charge  of  Col.  Koyall, 
who  was  in  reserve,  supported  by  the  Indian  allies,  caused  the 
Sioux  to  draw  off  to  their  village,  six  miles  distant,  while  Gen. 
Crook  went  into  camp,  where  he  remained  inactive  for  two  days. 

In  the  meantime,  as  the  official  report  recites:  "  Generals 
Terry  and  Gibbon  communicated  with  each 'other  June  1st,  near 
the  junction  of  the  Tongue  and  Yellowstone  rivers,  and  learned 
that  a  heavy  force  of  Indians  had  concentrated  on  the  opposite 
bank  of  the  Yellowstone,  but  eighteen  miles  distant.  For  four- 
teen days  the  Indian  pickets  had  confronted  Gibbon's  videttes." 

Gen.  Gibbon  reported  to  Gen.  Terry  that  the  cavalry  had 
thoroughly  scouted  the  Yellowstone  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Big  Horn,  and  no  Indians  had  crossed  it.  It  was  now  certain 
that  they  were  not  prepared  for  them,  and  on  the  Powder, 
Tongue,  Kosebud,  Little  Horn  and  Big  Horn  rivers,  Gen.  Terry 
at  once  commenced  feeling  for  them.  Major  Reno,  of  the 
Seventh  Cavalry,  with  six  companies  of  that  regiment,  was  sent 
up  Powder  river  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  to  the  mouth  of 
Little  Powder  to  look  for  the  Indians,  and,  if  possible  to 
communicate  with  General  Crook.  He  reached  the  mouth  of 
the  Little  Powder  in  five  days,  but  saw  no  Indians,  and  could 


668  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

hear  nothing  of  Crook.  As  he  returned,  he  found  on  the  Rose- 
bud a  very  large  Indian  trail,  about  nine  days  old,  and  followed 
it  a  short  distance,  when  he  turned  about  up  Tongue  river,  and 
reported  to  Gen.  Terry  what  he  had  seen.  It  was  now  known 
that  no  Indians  were  on  either  Tongue  or  Little  Powder  rivers, 
and  the  net  had  narrowed  down  to  Rosebud,  Little  Horn  and  Big 
Horn  rivers. 

Gen.  Terry,  who  had  been  waiting  with  Custer  and  the 
steamer  Far  West,  at  the  mouth  of  Tongue  river,  for  Reno's 
report,  as  soon  as  he  heard  it,  ordered  Custer  to  march  up  the 
south  bank  to  a  point  opposite  Gen.  Gibbon,  who  was  encamped 
on  the  north  bank  of  the  Yellowstone.  Accordingly  Terry,  on 
board  the  steamer  Far  West,  pushed  up  the  Yellowstone,  keep- 
ing abreast  of  Gen.  Custer's  column. 

Gen.  Gibbon  was  found  in  camp  quietly  awaiting  develop- 
ments. A  consultation  was  had  with  Gens.  Gibbon  and  Custer, 
and  then  Gen.  Terry  definitely  fixed  upon  the  plan  of  action. 
It  was  believed  the  Indians  were  at  the  head  of  the  Rosebud,  or 
over  on  the  Little  Horn,  a  dividing  ridge  only  fifteen  miles  wide 
separating  the  two  streams.  It  was  announced  by  Gen.  Terry 
that  Gen.  Custer's  column  "  would  strike  the  blow." 

At  the  time  that  a  junction  was  formed  between  Gibbon  and 
Terry,  Gen.  Crook  was  about  one  hundred  miles  from  them, 
while  Sitting  Bull's  forces  were  between  the  commands. 
Crook,  after  his  battle,  fell  back  to  the  head  of  Tongue  river. 
The  Powder,  Tongue,  Rosebud  and  Big  Horn  rivers  all  flow 
northwest,  and  empty  into  the  Yellowstone ;  as  Sitting  Bull  was 
between  the  headwaters  of  the  Rosebud  and  Big  Horn,  the  main 
tributary  of  the  latter  being  known  as  the  Little  Big  Horn,  a 
sufficient  knowledge  of  the  topography  of  the  country  is  thus 
afforded  by  which  to  definitely  locate  Sitting  Bull  and  his  forces. 

Having  now  ascertained  the  position  of  the  enemy,  or  rea- 
soned out  the  probable  position,  Gen.  Terry  sent  a  dispatch  to 
Gen.  Sheridan,  as  follows:  "  No  Indians  have  been  met  with  as 
yet,  but  traces  of  a  large  and  recent  camp  have  been  discovered 
twenty  or  thirty  miles  up  the  Rosebud.  Gibbon's  column  will 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


669 


this  g 


move  this  morning  on  the  north  side  of  the  Yellowstone,  for 
the  mouth  of  the  Big  Horn,  where  it  will  be  ferried  across  by  the 
supply  steamer, 
and  whence  it  will 
proceed  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Little 
Horn,  and  so  on. 
Custer  will  go  up 
the  Rosebud  to- 
morrow with  his 
whole  regiment, 
and  thence  to  the 
headwaters  of 
the  Little  Horn, 
thence  down  that 
stream." 

Following 
report  came  an 
order,  signed  by 
E.  W.  Smith, 
Captain  of  the 
Eighteenth  In- 
fantry, Acting 
Assistant  Adjut- 
ant-General, 
directing  General 
Custer  to  follow 
the  Indian  trail 
discovered,  push- 
ing the  Indians 
from  one  side 
while  Gen.  Gibbon 
pursued  them 
from  an  opposite 
direction.  As  no  instructions  were  given  as  to  the  rate  each 
division  should  travel,  Custer,  noted  for  his  quick,  energetic 


670  STORT   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

movements,  made  ninety  miles  the  first  three  days,  and,  dis- 
covering the  Indians  in  large  numbers,  divided  his  command 
into  three  divisions,  one  of  which  he  placed  under  Major  Reno, 
another  under  Major  Benteen,  and  led  the  other  himself. 

CUSTER    STRIKES    THE    INDIANS. 

As  Ouster  made  a  detour  to  enter  the  village,  Reno  struck  a 
large  body  of  Indians,  who,  after  retreating  nearly  three  miles> 
turned  on  the  troops  and  ran  them  pell  mell  across  Grassy  creek 
Into  the  woods.  Reno  over-estimated  the  strength  of  his  enemies 
and  thought  he  was  being  surrounded.  Benteen  came  up  to  the 
support  of  Reno,  but  he  too  took  fright  and  got  out  of  his  posi- 
tion without  striking  the  enemy. 

While  Reno  and  Benteen  were  trying  to  keep  open  a  way  for 
their  retreat,  Ouster  charged  on  the  village,  first  sending  a  cour- 
ier, Trumpeter  Martin,  to  Reno  and  Benteen  with  the  following 
dispatch:  "  Big  village;  be  quick;  send  on  the  packs."  This 
order  was  too  plain  to  be  misconstrued.  It  clearly  meant 
that  he  had  discovered  the  village,  which  he  intended  attacking 
at  once ;  to  hurry  forward  to  his  support  and  bring  up  the  packs, 
ambulances,  etc.  But  instead  of  obeying  orders,  Reno  and 
Benteen  stood  aloof,  fearful  lest  they  should  endanger  their  posi- 
tion, while  the  brave  Ouster  and  his  squad  of  noble  heroes  rushed 
down  like  a  terrible  avalanche  upon  the  Indian  village.  In  a 
moment,  fateful  incident,  the  Indians  came  swarming  about  that 
heroic  band  until  the  very  earth  seemed  to  open  and  let  loose 
the  elements  of  volcanic  fury,  or  like  a  riot  of  the  fiends  of 
Erebus,  blazing  with  the  hot  sulphur  of  their  impious  dominion. 
Down  from  the  hillside,  up  through  the  valleys,  that  dreadful 
torrent  of  Indian  cruelty  and  massacre  poured  around  the  little 
squad  to  swallow  it  up  with  one  grand  swoop  of  fire.  But  Ouster 
was  there  at  the  head,  like  Spartacus  fighting  the  legions  about 
him,  tall,  graceful,  brave  as  a  lion  at  bay,  and  with  thunderbolts  in 
his  hands.  His  brave  followers  formed  a  hollow  square,  and 
met  the  rush,  and  roar,  and  fury  of  the  demons.  Bravely  they 
breasted  that  battle  shock,  bravely  stood  up  and  faced  the  leaden 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  671 

bail,  nor  quailed  when  looking  into  the  blazing  muzzles  of  five 
thousand  deadly  rifles. 

HOPING   AGAINST    HOPE. 

Brushing  away  the  powder  grimes  that  had  settled  in  his  face, 
Ouster  looked  over  the  boiling  sea  of  fury  around  him,  peering 
through  the  smoke  for  some  signs  of  Eeno  and  Benteen,  but 
seeing  none  yet  thinking  of  the  aid  which  must  soon  come,  with 
cheering  words  to  his  comrades,  he  renewed  the  battle,  fighting 
still  like  a  Hercules  and  piling  heaps  of  victims  around  his  very 
feet. 

Hour  after  hour  passed  and  yet  no  friendly  sign  of  Reno's 
coming;  nothing  to  be  seen  saving  the  battle  smoke,  streaks  of 
fire  splitting  through  the  misty  clouds,  blood  flowing  in  rivulets 
under  tramping  feet,  dying  comrades,  and  Indians  swarming 
about  him,  rending  the  air  with  their  demoniacal  "  hi-yi-yip- 
y  ah ,  —  yah-hi-yah . ' ' 

THE    MASSACRE. 

The  fight  continued  with  unabated  fury  until  late  in  the  after- 
noon ;  men  had  sunk  down  beside  their  gallant  leader  until  there 
was  but  a  handful  left,  only  a  dozen,  bleeding  from  many  wounds 
and  hot  carbines  in  their  stiffening  hands.  The  day  is  almost 
done,  when  look!  heaven  now  defend  him !  the  charm  of  his 
life  is  broken,  for  Ouster  has  fallen;  a  bullet  cleaves  a  pathway 
through  his  side,  and  as  he  falters  another  strikes  his  noble 
breast.  Like  a  strong  oak  stricken  by  the  lightning's  bolt, 
shivering  the  mighty  trunk  and  bending  its  withering  branches 
down  close  to  the  earth,  so  fell  Ouster;  but  like  the  reacting 
branches,  he  rises  partly  up  again,  and  striking  out  like  a  fatally 
wounded  giant  lays  three  more  Indians  dead  and  breaks  his 
mighty  sword  on  the  musket  of  a  fourth ;  then,  with  useless 
blade  and  empty  pistol  falls  back  the  victim  of  a  dozen*  wounds. 
He  is  the  last  to  succumb  to  death,  and  dies,  too,  with  the  glory 
of  accomplished  duty  on  his  conscience  and  the  benediction  of  a 
grateful  country  on  his  head.  The  place  where  fell  these  noblest 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL  673 

of  God's  heroes  is  sacred  ground,  and  though  it  be  the  Golgotha 
of  a  nation's  mistakes  it  is  bathed  with  precious  blood,  rich  with 
the  germs  of  heroic  inheritance. 

I  have  avoided  attaching  blame  to  any  one,  using  only  the 
facts  that  have  been  furnished  me  of  how  Custer  came  to  attack 
the  Sioux  village  and  how  and  why  he  died. 

When  the  news  of  the  terrible  massacre  was  learned,  soldiers 
everywhere  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  sacred  place,  and  friendly 
hands  reared  a  monument  on  that  distant  spot  commemorative  of 
the  heroism  of  Custer  and  his  men ;  collected  together  all  the 
bones  and  relics  of  the  battle  and  piled  them  up  in  pyramidal 
form,  where  they  stand  in  sunshine  and  storm,  overlooking  the 
Little  Big  Horn. 

Soon  after  the  news  of  Custer  s  massacre  reached  us  prepara- 
tions were  immediately  made  to  avenge  his  death.  The  whole 
Cheyenne  and  Sioux  tribes  were  in  revolt  and  a  lively,  if  not 
very  dangerous,  campaign  was  in  prospective. 

AFTER     THE     MURDERERS    OF    CUSTER. 

Two  days  before  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  massacre,  Colonel 
Stanton,  who  was  with  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  had  been  sent  to  Ked 
Cloud  agency  and  on  the  evening  of  the  receipt  of  news  of  the 
Custer  fight  a  scout  arrived  in  our  camp  with  a  message  from 
the  Colonel  informing  General  Merritt  that  eight  hundred  Chey- 
enne warriors  had  that  day  left  Red  Cloud  agency  to  join  Sitting 
Bull's  hostile  forces  in  the  Big  Horn  country. 

Notwithstanding  the  instructions  to  proceed  immediately 
to  join  General  Crook  by  the  way  of  Fort  Fetterman,  Colonel 
Merritt  took  the  responsibility  of  endeavoring  to  intercept  the 
Cheyennes,  and  as  the  sequel  shows  he  performed  a  very  impor- 
tant service. 

He  selected  five  hundred  men  and  horses,  and  in  two  hours  we 
were  making  a  forced  march  back  to  Hat,  or  War  Bonnet  creek— 
the  intention  being  to  reach  the  main  Indian  trail  running  to  the 
north  across  that  creek  before  the  Cheyennes  could  get  there. 
We  arrived  there  the  next  night,  and  at  daylight  the  following 


43 


674 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 


morning,  July  17th,  1876,  I  went  out  on  a  scout,  and  found  that 
the  Indians  had  not  yet  crossed  the  creek.  On  my  way  back  to 
the  command  1  discovered  a  large  party  of  Indians,  which  proved 
to  be  the  Cheyennes,  coming  up  from  the  south,  and  I  hurried  to 
the  camp  with  this  important  information. 

The  cavalrymen  quietly  mounted  their  horses,  and  were  ordered 
to  remain  out  of  sight,  while  General  Merritt,  accompanied  by 
two  or  three  aides  and  myself,  went  out  on  a  little  tour  of  ob- 
servation to  a 
neighboring  hill, 
from  the  summit 
of  which  we  saw 
that  the  Indians 
were  approach- 
ing almost  direct- 
ly towards  us. 
Presently  fifteen 
or  twenty  of  them 
dashed  off  to  the 
west  in  the  direc- 
tion from  which 
?  we  had  come  the 
I  night  be-fore; 
i  and  upon  closer 
observation  with 
our  field  glasses, 
we  discovered  two  mounted  soldiers,  evidently  carrying  dis- 
patches for  us,  pushing  forward  on  our  trail. 

MY  DUEL  WITH  YELLOW  HAND. 

The  Indians  were  evidently  endeavoring  to  intercept  these  two 
men,  and  General  Merritt  feared  that  they  would  accomplish  their 
object.  He  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  send  out  any  soldiers 
to  the  assistance  of  the  couriers,  for  fear  they  would  show  to  the 
Indians  that  there  were  troops  in  the  vicinity  who  were  waiting 
for  them.  I  finally  suggested  that  the  best  plan  was  to  wait 


INDIANS    RUNNING    OFF    STOCK. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  675 

until  tne  couriers  came  closer  to  the  command,  and  then  just  as 
the  Indians  were  about  to  charge,  to  let  me  take  the  scouts  and 
cut  them  off  from  the  main  body  of  the  Cheyennes,  who  were 
coming  over  the  divide. 

''All  right,  Cody,"  said  the  General,  "  if  you  can  do  that,  go 
ahead." 

I  rushed  back  to  the  command,  jumped  on  my  horse,  picked 
out  fifteen  men,  and  returned  with  them  to  the  point  of  observa- 
tion. I  told  General  Merritt  to  give  us  the  word  to  start  out  at 
the  proper  time,  and  presently  he  sang  out: 

"  Go  in  now,  Cody,  and  be  quick  about  it.  They  are  going 
to  charge  on  the  couriers." 

The  two  messengers  were  not  over  four  hundred  yards  from 
us,  and  the  Indians  were  only  about  two  hundred  yards  behind 
them.  We  instantly  dashed  over  the  bluffs,  and  advanced  on  a 
gallop  towards  the  Indians.  A  running  fight  lasted  several  min- 
utes, during  which  we  drove  the  enemy  some  little  distance  and 
killed  three  of  their  number.  The  rest  of  them  rode  off  towards 
the  main  body,  which  had  come  into  plain  sight,  and  halted, 
upon  seeing  -the  skirmish  that  was  going  on.  We  were  about 
half  a  mile  from  General  Merritt,  and  the  Indians  whom  we 
were  chasing  suddenly  turned  upon  us,  and  another  lively  skir- 
mish took  place.  One  of  the  Indians,  who  was  handsomely  dec- 
orated with  all  the  ornaments  usually  worn  by  a  war  chief  when 
engaged  in  a  fight,  sang  out  to  me,  in  his  own  tongue:  "  I 
know  you,  Pa-he-haska;  if  you  want  to  fight,  come  ahead  and 
fight  me." 

The  chief  was  riding  his  horse  back  and  forth  in  front  of  his 
men,  as  if  to  banter  me,  and  I  concluded  to  accept  the  challenge. 
I  galloped  towards  him  for  fifty  yards  and  he  advanced  towards 
me  about  the  same  distance,  both  of  us  riding  at  full  speed,  and 
then,  when  we  were  only  about  thirty  yards  apart,  I  raised  my 
rifle  and  fired;  his  horse  fell  to  the  ground,  having  been  killed 
by  my  bullet.  Almost  at  the  same  instant  my  own  horse  went 
down,  he  having  stepped  into  a  gopher  hole.  The  fall  did  not  hurt 
me  much,  and  I  Instantly  sprang  to  my  feet.  The  Indian  had 


676 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  677 

also  recovered  himself,  and  we  were  now  both  on  foot,  and  not 
more  than  twenty  paces  apart.  We  fired  at  each  other  simul- 
taneously. My  usual  luck  did  not  desert  me  on  this  occasion, 
for  his  bullet  missed  me,  while  mine  struck  him  in  the  breast. 
He  reeled  and  fell,  but  before  he  had  fairly  touched  the  ground 
I  was  upon  him,  knife  in  hand,  and  had  driven  the  keen-edged 
weapon  to  its  hilt  in  his  heart.  Jerking  his  war-bonnet  off,  I 
scientifically  scalped  him  in  about  five  seconds. 

A  MOMENT  OF  GREAT  DANGER. 

The  whole  affair  from  beginning  to  end  occupied  but  little 
time,  and  the  Indians,  seeing  that  I  was  some  little  distance  from 
my  company,  now  came  charging  down  upon  me  from  a  hill,  in 
hopes  of  cutting  me  off.  General  Merritt  had  witnessed  the 
duel,  and  realizing  the  danger  I  was  in,  ordered  Colonel  Mason 
with  Company  K  to  hurry  to  my  rescue.  The  order  came  none 
too  soon,  for  had  it  been  given  one  minute  later  I  would  have  had 
not  less  than  two  hundred  Indians  upon  me.  As  the  soldiers  came 
up  I  swung  the  Indian  chieftain's  top-knot  and  bonnet  in  the  air, 
and  shouted :  — 

"  The  first  scalp  for  Ouster." 

General  Merritt,  seeing  that  he  could  hot  now  ambush  the  In- 
dians, ordered  the  whole  regiment  to  charge  upon  them.  They 
made  a  stubborn  resistance  for  a  little  while,  but  it  was  of  no 
use  for  any  eight  hundred,  or  even  sixteen  hundred  Indians  to 
try  and  check  a  charge  of  the  gallant  old  Fifth  Cavalry,  and 
they  soon  came  to  that  conclusion  and  began  a  running  retreat 
towards  Ked  Cloud  agency.  For  thirty-five  miles  we  drove  them, 
pushing  them  so  hard  that  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  their 
loose  horses,  their  camp  equipage  and  everything  else.  We 
drove  them  into  the  agency,  and  followed  in  ourselves,  notwith- 
standing the  possibility  of  our  having  to  encounter  the  thousands 
of  Indians  at  that  point.  We  were  uncertain  whether  or  not  the 
other  agency  Indians  had  determined  to  follow  the  example  of 
the  Cheyennes  and  strike  out  upon  the  war-path ;  but  that  made 
no  difference  with  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  for  they  would  have  fought 
them  all  if  necessary.  It  was  dark  when  we  rode  into  the  agency. 


678 


STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 


where  we  found  thousands  of  Indians  collected  together;  but 
they  manifested  no  disposition  to  fight. 

While  at  the  agency   I  learned  the  name  of  the  Indian  chief 
whom  I  had  killed  in  the  morning ;    it  was  Yellow  Hand,  a  son 

of  old  Cut- 
n  o  »  e  —  a 
1 1  e  ading 
chief  of  the 
ICheyennes. 
1  Cut -nose 
h  a  v  i  n  g 
learned 
that  I  had 
Skilled  his 
son  sent  a 
white  i  n- 
terpreterto 
me  with  a 
message  to 
the  effect 
that  he 
would  give 
me  four 
mules  if.  I 
would  turn 
over  to  him 
Yellow 
Hand's 
w  a  r-b  o  n  - 
net,  guns, 

pistols,  ornaments,  and  other  paraphernalia  which  I  had  captured. 
I  sent  back  word  to  the  old  gentleman  that  it  would  give  me  pleas- 
ure to  accommodate  him,  but  I  could  not  do  it  this  time. 

AGAIN  IN  PURSUIT  OF  THE  SIOUX. 

The  next  morning  we  started  to  join  General  Crook,  who  was 
camped  near  the  foot  of  Cloud  Peak  in  the  Big  Horn  mountains, 


THE     FIRST    SCALP    FOR    OUSTER. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  679 

awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  before  proceeding 
against  the  Sioux,  who  were  somewhere  near  the  head  of  the 
Little  Big  Horn,  —  as  his  scouts  informed  him.  We  made  rapid 
marches  and  reached  General  Crook's  camp  on  Goose  creek 
about  the  3d  of  August. 

At  this  camp  I  met  many  old  friends,  among  whom  was  Colonel 
Royall,  who  had  received  his  promotion  to  the  Lieutenant-Col- 
onelcy of  the  Third  Cavalry.  He  introduced  me  to  General 
Crook,  whom  I  had  never  met  before,  but  of  whom  I  had  often 
heard.  He  also  introduced  me  to  the  General's  chief  guide, 
Frank  Grouard,  a  half  breed,  who  had  lived  six  years  with  Sit- 
ting Bull,  and  knew  the  country  thoroughly. 

We  remained  in  this  camp  only  one  day,  and  then  the  whole 
troop  pulled  out  for  the  Tongue  river,  leaving  our  wagons  be- 
hind, but  taking  with  us  a  large  pack  train.  We  marched  down 
the  Tongue  river  for  two  days,  thence  in  a  westerly  direction 
over  to  the  Rosebud,  where  we  struck  the  main  Indian  trail, 
leading  down  this  stream.  From  the  size  of  the  trail,  which  ap- 
peared to  be  about  four  days  old,  we  estimated  that  there  must 
have  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  seven  thousand  Indians  in 
the  war  party. 

For  two  or  three  days  we  pushed  on,  but  we  did  not  seem  to 
gain  much  on  the  Indians,  as  they  were  evidently  making  about 
the  same  marches  that  we  were.  On  the  fourth  or  fifth  morning 
of  our  pursuit,  I  rode  ahead  of  the  command  about  ten  miles, 
and  mounting  a  hill  I  scanned  the  country  far  and  wide  with  my 
field  glass,  and  discovered  an  immense  column  of  dust  rising 
about  ten  miles  further  down  the  creek,  and  soon  I  noticed  a 
body  of  men  marching  towards  me,  that  at  first  I  believed  to  be 
the  Indians  of  whom  we  were  in  pursuit;  but  subsequently  they 
proved  to  be  General  Terry's  command.  I  sent  back  word  to 
that  effect  to  General  Crook,  by  a  scout  who  had  accompanied 
me,  but  after  he  had  departed  I  observed  a  band  of  Indians  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  and  also  another  party  directly 
in  front  of  me.  This  led  me  to  believe  that  I  had  made  a  mis- 
take. But  shortlv  afterwards  uiy  attention  was  attracted  by  the 


680  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

appearance  of  a  body  of  soldiers,  who  were  forming  into  a  skirmish 
line,  and  then  I  became  convinced  that  it  was  General  Terry's 
command  after  all,  and  that  the  red-skins  whom  I  had  seen  were 
some  of  his  friendly  Indian  scouts,  who  had  mistaken  me  for  a 
Sioux,  and  fled  back  to  their  command  terribly  excited,  shouting, 
"  The  Sioux  are  coming !" 

A    LITTLE  DUST    CAUSES    MUCH  EXCITEMENT. 

General  Terry  at  once  came  to  the»post,  and  ordered  the  Sev- 
enth Cavalry  to  form  line  of  battle  across  the  Rosebud ;  he  also 
ordered  up  his  artillery  and  had  them  prepare  for  action,  doubt- 
less dreading  another  "  Custer  massacre."  I  afterwards  learned 
the  Indian  had  seen  the  dust  raised  by  General  Crook's  forces, 
and  had  reported  that  the  Sioux  were  coming. 

These  manoeuvres  I  witnessed  from  my  position  with  consid- 
erable amusement,  thinking  the  command  must  be  badly  demor- 
alized, when  one  man  could  cause  a  whole  army  to  form  line  of 
battle  and  prepare  for  action.  Having  enjoyed  the  situation  to 
my  heart's  content,  I  galloped  down  towards  the  skirmish  line, 
waving  my  hat  and  when  within  about  one  hundred  yards  of 
the  troops,  Colonel  Weir,  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  galloped  out 
and  met  me.  He  recognized  me  at  once,  and  accompanied  me 
inside  the  line;  then  he  sang  out,  "  Boys,  here's  Buffalo  Bill. 
Some  of  you  old  soldiers  know  him;  give  him  a  cheer!"  There- 
upon the  regiment  gave  three  rousing  cheers,  and  it  was  followed 
up  all  along  the  line. 

Colonel  Weir  presented  me  to  General  Terry,  and  in  answer 
to  his  question  I  informed  him  that  the  alarm  of  Indians  which 
had  been  given  was  a  false  one,  as  the  dust  seen  by  his  scouts 
was  caused  by  General  Crook's  troops.  General  Terry  thereup- 
on rode  forward  to  meet  General  Crook,  and  I  accompanied  him 
at  his  request.  That  night  both  commands  went  into  camp  on 
the  Rosebud.  General  Terry  had  his  wagon  train  with  him, 
and  everything  to  make  life  comfortable  on  an  Indian  campaign, 
He  had  large  wall  tents  and  portable  beds  to  sleep  in,  and  commo- 
dious hospital  tents  for  dining-rooms.  His  camp  looked  very  com- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  681 

fortable  and  attractive,  and  presented  a  great  contrast  to  that  of 
General  Crook,  who  had  for  his  headquarters  only  one  small  fly 
tent;  and  whose  cooking  utensils  consisted  of  a  quart  cup  —  in 
which  he  made  his  coffee  himself  —  and  a  stick  upon  which  he 
broiled  his  bacon.  When  I  compared  the  two  camps,  I  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  General  Crook  was  an  Indian  fighter;  for  it  was 
evident  that  he  had  learned  that,  to  follow  and  fight  Indians,  a 
body  of  men  must  travel  lightly  and  not  be  detained  by  a  wag- 
on train  or  heavy  luggage  of  any  kind. 

That  evening  General  Terry  ordered  General  Mills  to  take  his 
regiment,  the  Fifth  Infantry,  and  return  by  a  forced  march  to 
the  Yellowstone,  and  proceed  down  the  river  by  steamboat  to 
the  mouth  of  Powder  river,  to  intercept  the  Indians,  in  case  they 
attempted  to  cross  the  Yellowstone.  General  Miles  made  a 
forced  march  that  night  of  thirty-five  miles,  which  was  splendid 
traveling  for  an  infantry  regiment  through  a  mountainous 
country. 

Generals  Crook  and  Terry  spent  that  evening  and  the  next  day 
in  council,  and  on  the  following  morning  both  commands  moved 
out  on  the  Indian  trail.  Although  General  Terry  was  the  senior 
officer,  he  did  not  assume  command  of  both  expeditions,  but  left 
General  Crook  in  command  of  his  own  troops,  although  they  op- 
erated together.  We  crossed  the  Tongue  river  to  Powder  river, 
and  proceeded  down  the  latter  stream  to  a  point  twenty  miles 
from  its  junction  with  the  Yellowstone,  where  the  Indian  trail 
turned  to  the  southeast  in  the  direction  of  the  Black  Hills.  The 
two  commands  now  being  nearly  out  of  supplies,  the  trail  was 
abandoned,  and  the  troops  kept  on  down  Powder  river  to  its  con- 
fluence with  the  Yellowstone,  and  remained  there  several  days. 
Here  we  met  General  Mills,  who  reported  that  no  Indians  had  as 
yet  crossed  the  Yellowstone.  Several  steamboats  soon  arrived' 
with  a  large  quantity  of  supplies,  **nd  OD^C  mor^  *-h*  '*  Boys  in 
in  Blue  "  were  made  happy. 


682 


STORY  OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


DANGEROUS   WORK. 

|NE  evening  while  we  were  in  camp  01  the 
Yellowstone  at  the  mouth  of  Powder  T/  /er, 
I  was  informed  that  the  commanding  offic- 
ers had  selected  Louis  Richard,  a  half  breed 
and  myself  to  accompany  General  Mifls  on 
a  scouting  expedition  on  the  steamer  Far 
West,  down-  the  Yellowstone  as  far  as  Glen- 
dive  creek.  We  were  to  ride  on  the  pilot 
house  and  keep  a  sharp  lookout  on  both  sides 
of  the  river  for  Indian  trails  that  might  have 
crossed  the  stream.  The  idea  of  scouting  >n  a 
steamboat  was  indeed  a  novel  one  to  me,  and  (  an- 
ticipated a  pleasant  trip. 
At  daylight  next  morning  we  reported  on  board  the  steamer 
to  General  Mills,  who  had  with  him  four  or  five  companies  of 
his  regiment.  We  were  somewhat  surprised  when  he  asked  us 
where  our  horses  were,  as  we  had  not  supposed  that  horses  would 
be  needed  if  the  scouting  was  to  be  done  on  the  steamer.  He  said 
we  might  need  them  before  we  got  back,  and  thereupon  we  had 
the  animals  brought  onboard.  In  a  few  minutes  we  were  boom- 
ing down  the  river  at  the  rate  of  about  twenty  miles  an  hour, 

The  steamer  Far  West  was  commanded  by  Captain  Grant  Mar^h, 
whom  I  found  to  be  an  interesting  character.  I  had  often  heard 
of  him,  for  he  was  and  is  yet  one  of  the  best  known  river  cap- 
tains in  the  country.  He  it  was  who,  with  his  steamer  the  Far 
West,  transported  the  wounded  men  from  the  battle  of  the  Little 
Big  Horn  to  Fort  Abraham  Lincoln  on  the  Missouri  river,  and 
on  that  trip  he  made  the  fastest  steamboat  time  on  record.  He 
was  a  skillful  and  experienced  pilot,  handling  his  boat  with  re- 
markable dexterity. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


683 


While  Richard  and  myself  were  at  our  stations  on  the  pilot 
house,  the  steamer  with  a  full  head  of  steam  went  flying  past 
islands,  around  bends  over  sand-bars,  at  a  rate  that  was  exhilar- 


ating. Presently  I  thought  I 
could  see  horses  grazing  in  a  dis- 
tant bend  of  the  river  and  I  re- 
ported the  fact  to  General  Mills, 
who  asked  Captain  Marsh  if  he 
could  land  the  boat  near  a  large 
tree  which  he  pointed  out  to 
him.  "  Yes,  sir;  I  can  land  her 
there,  and  make  her  climb  the 
tree  if  necessary,"  said  he. 

On  reaching  the  spot  designat- 
ed, General  Mills  ordered  two 
companies  ashore,  while  Richard 
and  myself  were  instructed  to  take 
our  horses  off  the  boat  and  push 
out  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  see  if 
there  were  Indians  in  the  vicinity. 
While  we  were  getting  ashore, 
Captain  Marsh  remarked  that  if 
there  was  only  a  good  heavy  dew 
on  the  grass  he  would  shoot  the 

SCOUTING  ON  A  STEAMBOAT.       steamer  ashore  and  take  us  on  the 
scout  without  the  trouble  of  leaving  the  boat. 

It   was  a  false  alarm,  however,  as  the  objects  we  had  seen 


684  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST 

proved  to  be  Indian  graves.  Quite  a  large  number  of  brav«* 
who  had  probably  been  killed  in  some  battle,  were  laid  on 
scaffolds,  according  to  the  Indian  custom,  and  some  of  their 
clothing  had  been  torn  loose  from  the  bodies  by  the  wolves  and 
was  waving  in  the  air. 

On  arriving  at  Glendive  creek  we  found  that  Colonel  Rice  and 
his  company  of  the  Fifth  Infantry  who  had  been  sent  there  by 
General  Mills,  had  built  quite  a  good  little  fort  with  their  trowel- 
bayonets —  a  weapon  which  Colonel  Rice  was  the  inventor  of, 
and  which  is,  by  the  way,  a  very  useful  implement  of  war,  as  it 
can  be  used  for  a  shovel  in  throwing  up  intrenchments  and  can 
be  profitably  utilized  in  several  other  ways.  On  the  day  pre- 
vious to  our  arrival,  Colonel  Rice  had  a  fight  with  a  party  of 
Indians,  and  had  killed  two  or  three  of  them  at  long  range  with 
his  Rodman  cannon. 

A  RIDE  THROUGH  THE  BAD  LANDS. 

The  Far  West  was  to  remain  at  Glendive  over  night,  and  Gen- 
eral Mills  wished  to  send  dispatches  back  to  General  Terry  at 
once.  At  his  request  I  took  the  dispatches  and  rode  seventy- 
five  miles  that  night  through  the  bad  lands  of  the  Yellowstone, 
and  reached  General  Terry's  camp  next  morning,  after  having 
nearly  broken  my  neck  a  dozen  times  or  more. 

There  being  but  little  prospect  of  any  more  fighting,  I  deter- 
mined to  go  East  as  soon  as  possible  to  organize  a  new  "  Dram- 
atic Combination,"  and  have  a  new  drama  written  for  me  based 
upon  the  Sioux  war.  This  I  knew  would  be  a  paying  invest- 
ment as  the  Sioux  campaign  had  excited  considerable  interest. 
So  I  started  down  the  river  on  the  steamer  Yellowstone  en  route 
to  Fort  Beauford.  On  the  same  morning  Generals  Terry  and 
Crook  pulled  out  for  Powder  river,  to  take  up  the  old  Indian 
trail  which  we  had  recently  left. 

The  steamer  had  proceeded  down  the  stream  about  twenty 
miles  when  it  was  met  by  another  boat  on  its  way  up  the  river, 
having  on  board  General  Whistler  and  some  fresh  troops  for 
General  Terry's  command  Both  boats  landed,  and  almost  the 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


685 


first  person  I  met  was  my  old  friend  and  partner,  Texas  Jack, 
who  had  been  sent  out  as  a  dispatch  carrier  for  the  New  York 
Herald. 

General  Whistler,  upon  learning  that  General  Terry  had  left 
the  Yellowstone,  asked  me  to  carry  to  him  some  important  dis- 
patches from  General  Sheridan,  and  although  I  objected,  he 
insisted  upon  my  performing  this  duty,  saying  that  it  would 
only  detain  me  a  few  hours  longer ;  as  an  extra  inducement  he 
offered  me  the  use  of  his  own  thorough-bred  horse,  which  was 


INDIAN    UAIDERS    ON    THE    LINE    OF    THE    U.   P.   R.   R. 

on  the  boat.  I  finally  consented  to  go,  and  was  soon  speeding 
over  the  rough  and  hilly  country  towards  Powder  river,  and  I 
delivered  the  dispatches  to  General  Terry  the  same  evening. 
General  Whistler's  horse,  although  a  good  animal  was  not  used 
to  such  hard  riding,  and  was  far  more  exhausted  by  the  journey 
than  I  was. 

After  I  had  taken  a  lunch,  General  Terry  asked  me  if  I  would 
carry  some  dispatches  back  to  General  Whistler,  and  I  replied 
that  I  would.  Captain  Smith,  General  Terry's  aid-de-camp, 
offered  me  his  horse  for  the  trip,  and  it  proved  to  be  an  excel- 


686  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST, 

lent  animal ;  for  I  rode  him  that  same  night  forty  miles  over  the 
bad  lands  in  four  hours,  and  reached  General  Whistler's  steam- 
boat at  one  o'clock.  During  my  absence  the  Indians  had  made 
their  appearance  on  the  different  hills  in  the  vicinity,  and  the 
troops  from  the  boat  had  had  several  skirmishes  with  them. 
When  General  Whistler  had  finished  reading  the  dispatches,  he 
said:  "  Cody,  I  want  to  send  information  to  General  Terry  con- 
cerning the  Indians  who  have  been  skirmishing  around  here  all 
day.  I  have  been  trying  all  the  evening  long  to  induce  some 
one  to  carry  my  dispatches  to  him,  but  no  one  seems  willing  to 
undertake  the  trip,  and  I  have  got  to  fall  back  on  you.  It  is 
asking  a  great  deal,  I  know,  as  you  have  just  ridden  eighty 
miles;  but  it  is  a  case  of  necessity,  and  if  you'll  go  Cody,  I'll 
see  that  you  are  well  paid  for  it." 

"  Never  mind  about  the  pay, "  said  I,  "  but  get  your  dispatches 
ready  and  I'll  start  at  once." 

A   TERRIBLE    JOURNEY. 

In  a  few  minutes  he  handed  me  the  package  and,  mounting 
the  same  horse  which  I  had  ridden  from  General  Terry's  camp, 
I  struck  out  for  my  destination.  It  was  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning  when  I  left  the  boat,  and  at  eight  o'clock  I  rode  into 
General  Terry's  camp,  just  as  he  was  about  to  march  —  having 
made  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  twenty-two  hours. 

General  Terry,  after  reading  the  dispatches,  halted  his  com- 
mand and  then  rode  on  and  overtook  General  Crook,  with  whom 
he  held  a  council;  the  result  was  that  Crook's  command  moved 
on  in  the  direction  which  they  had  been  pursuing,  while  Terry's 
forces  marched  back  to  the  Yellowstone  and  crossed  the  river 
on  steamboats.  At  the  urgent  request  of  General  Terry  I  ac- 
companied the  command  on  a  scout  in  the  direction  of  the  Dry 
fork  of  the  Missouri,  where  it  was  expected  we  would  strike 
some  Indians. 

The  first  march  out  from  the  Yellowstone  was  made  in  the 
night,  as  we  wished  to  get  into  the  hills  without  being  discovered 
by  the  Sioux  scouts.  After  marching  three  days,  a  little  to  the 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  687 

east  of  north,  we  reached  the  buffalo  range  and  discovered  fresh 
signs  of  Indians,  who  had  evidently  been  killing  buffaloes. 
General  Terry  now  called  on  me  to  carry  dispatches  to  Colonel 
Bice,  who  was  still  camped  at  the  mouth  of  Glendive  creek,  on 
the  Yellowstone  —  distant  about  eighty  miles  from  us. 

Night  had  set  in  with  a  storm  and  a  drizzling  rain  was  falling 
when,  at  ten  o'clock,  I  started  on  this  ride  through  a  section  of 
country  with  which  I  was  entirely  unacquainted.  I  traveled 
through  the  darkness  a  distance  of  about  thirty-five  miles,  and 
at  daylight  I  rode  into  a  secluded  spot  at  the  head  of  a  ravine 
where  stood  a  bunch  of  ash  trees  and  there  I  concluded  to  remain 
till  night,  for  I  considered  it  a  dangerous  undertaking  to  cross 
the  wide  prairies  in  broad  daylight  —  especially  as  my  horse  was 
a  poor  one.  I  accordingly  unsaddled  my  animal  and  ate  a  hearty 
breakfast  of  bacon  and  hard  tack  which  I  had  stored  in  the  saddle- 
pockets;  then,  after  taking  a  smoke,  I  lay  down  to  sleep,  with 
my  saddle  for  a  pillow.  In  a  few  minutes  I  was  in  the  land  of 
dreams. 

LYING   LOW. 

After  sleeping  some  time  —  I  can't  tell  how  long  —  I  was 
suddenly  awakened  by  a  roaring,  rumbling  sound.  I  instantly 
seized  my  gun,  sprang  to  my  horse  and  hurriedly  secreted  him 
in  the  brush.  Then  I  climbed  up  the  steep  side  of  the  bamk  and 
cautiously  looked  over  the  summit;  in  the  distance  I  saw  a  large 
herd  of  buffaloes  which  were  being  chased  and  fired«at  by  twenty 
or  thirty  Indians.  Occasionally  a  buffalo  would  drop  out  of  the 
herd,  but  the  Indians  kept  on  until  they  had  killed  ten  or  fifteen. 
They  then  turned  back  and  began  to  cut  up  their  game. 

I  saddled  my  horse  and  tied  him  to  a  small  tree  where  I  could 
reach  him  conveniently  in  case  the  Indians  should  discover  me 
by  finding  my  trail  and  following  it.  I  then  crawled  carefully 
back  to  the  summit  of  the  bluff,  and  in  a  concealed  position 
watched  the  Indians  for  two  hours,  during  which  time  they  were 
occupied  in  cutting  up  the  buffaloes  and  packing  the  meat  on 
their  ponies.  When  they  had  finished  this  work  they  rode  off  in 


688 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 


the  direction  whence  they  had  come  and  on  the  line  which  I  had 
proposed  to  travel.  It  appeared  evident  to  me  that  their  camp 
was  located  somewhere  between  me  and  Glendive  creek,  but  I 
had  no  idea  of  abandoning  the  trip  on  that  account. 

I  waited  till  nightfall  before  resuming  my  journey,  and  then  I 
bore  off  to  the  east  for  several  miles,  and  by  making  a  semi- 
circle to  avoid  the  Indians,  I  got  back  on  my  original  course, 
and  then  pushed  on  rapidly  to  Colonel  Rice's  camp,  which  I 
reached  just  at  daylight. 


WATCHING    THE    HOSTILES. 

Colonel  Rice  had  been  fighting  Indians  almost  every  day  since 
he  had  been  encamped  at  this  point,  and  he  was  very  anxious  to 
notify  General  Terry  of  the  fact.  Of  course  I  was  requested  to 
carry  his  dispatches.  After  remaining  at  Glendive  a  single  day 
I  started  back  to  find  General  Terry,  and  on  the  third  day  I  over- 
hauled him  at  the  head  of  Deer  creek  while  on  his  way  to 
Colonel  Rice's  camp.  He  was  not,  however,  going  in  the  right 
direction,  but  bearing  too  far  to  the  east,  and  I  so  informed  him. 
He  then  asked  me  to  guide  the  command  and  I  did  so. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  689 

On  arriving  at  Glendive  I  bade  good-bye  to  the  General  and 
his  officers  and  took  passage  on  the  steamer  Far  West,  which 
was  on  her  way  down  the  Missouri.  At  Bismarck  I  left  the 
steamer,  and  proceeded  by  rail  to  Eochester,  New  York,  where 
I  met  my  family.  Mr.  J.  Clinton  Hall,  manager  of  the  Roches- 
ter Opera  House,  was  very  anxious  to  have  me  play  an  engage- 
ment at  his  theater,  so  I  agreed  to  open  the  season  with  him  as 
soon  as  I  had  got  my  drama  written;  and  I  did  so,  meeting  with 
an  enthusiastic  reception. 

My  new  drama  was  arranged  for  the  stage  by  J.  V.  Arlington, 
the  actor.  It  was  a  five-act  play,  without  head  or  tail,  and 
it  made  no  difference  at  which  act  we  commenced  the  per- 
formance. Before  we  had  finished  the  season  several  news- 
paper critics,  I  have  been  told,  went  crazy  in  trying  to 
follow  the  plot.  It  afforded  us,  however,  ample  opportunity 
to  give  a  noisy,  rattling,  gunpowder  entertainment,  and  to  pre- 
sent a  succession  of  scenes  in  the  late  Indian  war,  all  of  which 
seemed  to  give  general  satisfaction. 

RETURN   TO   THE    MIMIC    STAGE. 

From  Rochester  I  went  to  New  York  and  played  a  very  suc- 
cessful engagement  at  the  Grand  Opera  House  under  the  man- 
agement of  Messrs.  Poole  and  Donnelly.  Thence  my  route  took 
me  to  all  the  principal  cities  in  the  Eastern,  Western  and  Middle 
States,  and  I  everywhere  met  with  crowded  houses.  I  then  went 
to  the  Pacific  Coast,  against  the  advice  of  friends  who  gave  it  as 
their  opinion  that  my  style  of  plays  would  not  take  very  well  in 
California.  I  opened  for  an  engagement  of  two  weeks  at  the 
Bush  Street  Theater,  in  San  Francisco,  in  a  season  when  the 
theatrical  business  was  dull  and  Ben  DeBar  and  the  Lingards 
were  playing  there  to  empty  seats.  I  expected  to  play  to  a  slim 
audience  on  the  opening  night,  but  instead  of  that  I  had  a  four- 
teen hundred  dollar  house.  Such  was  my  success  that  I  con- 
tinued my  engagement  for  five  weeks,  and  the  theater  was 
crowded  at  every  performance.  Upon  leaving  San  Francisco  I 
made  a  circuit  of  the  interior  towns  and  closed  the  season  at 
Virginia  City,  Nevada. 

M 


690  STORY   OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 

Some  time  previously  I  had  made  arrangements  to  go  into  th« 
cattle  business  in  company  with  my  old  friend,  Major  Frank 
North,  and  while  I  was  in  California  he  had  built  our  ranches  on 
the  South  fork  of  the  Dismal  river,  sixty-five  miles  north  of 
North  Platte,  in  Nebraska.  Proceeding  to  Ogalalla,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Texas  cattle  drovers,  I  found  Major  North  there 
awaiting  me,  and  together  we  bought,  branded  and  drove  to  our 
ranches  our  first  installment  of  cattle.  This  occupied  us  during 
the  remainder  of  the  summer. 

Leaving  the  cattle  in  charge  of  Major  North,  I  visited  Red 
Cloud  Agency  early  in  the  fall,  and  secured  some  Sioux  Indians 
to  accompany  me  on  my  theatrical  tour  of  1877-78.  Taking  my 
family  and  the  Indians  with  me,  I  went  directly  to  Rochester. 
There  I  left  my  oldest  daughter,  Arta,  at  a  young  ladies'  semi- 
nary, while  my  wife  and  youngest  child  traveled  with  me  during 
the  season. 

I  opened  at  the  Bowery  Theater,  New  York,  September  3d, 
1877,  with  a  new  border  drama  entitled,  "  May  Cody,  or  Lost 
and  Won,"  from  the  pen  of  Major  A.  S.  Burt,  of  the  United  States 
army.  It  was  founded  on  the  incidents  of  the  "  Mountain 
Meadow  Massacre,"  and  life  among  the  Mormons.  It  was  the 
best  drama  I  had  yet  produced,  and  proved  a  grand  success  both 
financially  and  artistically.  The  season  of  1877-78  was  the 
most  profitable  one  I  had  ever  had. 

In  February,  1878,  my  wife  became  tired  of  traveling,  and 
proceeded  to  North  Platte,  Nebraska,  where,  on  our  farm  ad- 
joining the  town,  she  personally  superintended  the  erection  of  a 
comfortable  family  residence,  and  had  it  all  completed  when  I 
reached  there,  early  in  May.  In  this  house  we  are  now  living, 
and  we  hope  to  make  it  our  home  for  many  years  to  come- 

ON  A   ROUND  UP. 

After  my  arrival  at  North  Platte,  I  found  that  the  ranchmen, 
or  cattlemen,  had  organized  a  regular  annual  "  round-up,"  to 
take  place  in  the  spring  of  the  year. 

The  word   "  round-up  "    is  derived  from  the  fact  that  during 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


691 


the  winter  months  the  cattle  become  scattered  over  a  vast  tract 
of  land,  and  the  ranchmen  assemble  together  in  the  spring  to 
sort  out  and  each  secure  his  own  stock.  They  form  a  large  cir- 
cle, often  of  a  circumference  of  two  hundred  miles,  and  drive 
the  cattle  toward  a  common  center,  where,  all  stock  being 
branded,  each  owner  can  readily  separate  his  own  from  the  gen- 
eral herd,  and  then  he  drives  them  to  his  own  ranch. 

In  this  cattle  driving  business  is  exhibited  some  most  magnifi- 
cent horsemanship,  for  the  "  cow-boys,"  as  they  are  called,  are 
invariably  skillful  and  fearless  horsemen  —  in  fact  only  a  most 


expert  rider  could  be  a 
cow-boy,  as  it  requires 
the  greatest  dexterity 
and  daring  in  the  saddle 
to  cut  a  wild  steer  out  of 
the  herd.  Major  North 
was  awaiting  me,  upon 
my  arrival  at  North 
Platte,  having  with  him  our  own  horses  and  men.  Other  cattle 
owners,  such  as  Keith  and  Barton,  Coe  and  Carter,  Jack  Pratt5  the 
Walker  brothers,  Guy  and  Sim  Lang,  Arnold  and  Ritchie  and  a 
great  many  others  with  their  outfits,  were  assembled  and  were 
ready  to  start  on  the  round-up. 

As  there  is  nothing  but  hard  work  on  these  round-ups,  having 
to  be  in  the  saddle  all  day,  and  standing  guard  over  the  cattle  at 
night,  rain  or  shine,  I  could  not  possibly  find  out  where  the  fun 
came  in  that  North  had  promised  me.  But  it  was  an  exciting  life, 
and  the  days  sped  rapidly  by ;  in  six  weeks  we  found  ourselves 


692  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

at  our  own  ranch  on  Dismal  river,  the  round-up  having  proved  a 
great  success,  as  we  had  found  all  our  cattle  and  driven  them  home. 
This  work  being  over,  I  proposed  to  spend  a  few  weeks  with 
my  family  at  North  Platte,  for  the  purpose  of  making  their 
better  acquaintance,  for  my  long  and  continued  absence  from 
home  made  me  a  comparative  stranger  under  my  own  roof. 
One  great  source  of  pleasure  to  me  was  that  my  wife  was  de- 
lighted with  the  home  I  had  given  her  amid  the  prairies  of  the 
far  West.  Soon  after  my  arrival,  my  sisters,  Nellie  and  May, 
came  to  make  us  a  visit,  and  a  delightful  time  we  had  during 
their  stay.  When  they  left  us  I  accompanied  them  to  their 
home  in  Denver,  Colorado,  where  I  passed  several  days  visiting 
old  friends  and  scenes.  Proceeding  thence  to  Ogallala  I  pur- 
chased from  Bill  Phant,  an  extensive  cattle  drover  from  Texas, 
a  herd  of  cattle,  which  I  drove  to  my  ranch  on  the  Dismal  river, 
after  which  I  bade  my  partner  and  the  boys  good-bye,  and 
started  for  the  Indian  Territory  to  procure  Indians  for  my 
Dramatic  Combination  for  the  season  of  1878-79. 

PUTTING   REAL   INDIANS    ON   THE    STAGE. 

Having  secured  my  Indian  actors,  and  along  with  them  Mr.  C. 
A.  Burgess,  a  government  interpreter,  and  Ed.  A.  Burgess, 
known  as  the  "  Boy  Chief  of  the  Pawnees,"  I  started  for  Balti- 
more, where  I  organized  my  combination,  and  which  was  the 
largest  troupe  I  had  had  yet  on  the  road,  opening  in  that  city  at 
the  Opera  House,  under  the  management  of  Hon.  John  T.  Ford, 
and  then  started  on  a  southern  tour,  playing  in  Washington, 
Richmond  and  as  far  south  as  Savannah,  Georgia,  where  we 
were  brought*to  a  sudden  halt,  owing  to  the  yellow  fever  which 
was  then  cruelly  raging  in  the  beautiful  cities  of  the  "  Land  of 
the  cotton  and  the  cane." 


THE  WILD  WEST  IN  ENGLAND. 


HEN  the  season  of  1882-83 
closed  I  found  myself  richer 
by  several  thousand  dollars 
than  I  had  ever  been  before, 
having  done  a  splendid 
business  at  every  place 
where  my  performance 
was  given  in  that  year.  Im- 
mense success  and  compara- 
tive wealth,  attained  in  the 
profession  of  showman,  stimu- 
lated me  to  greater  exertion  and  largely  increased  my  ambi- 
tion for  public  favor.  Accordingly,  I  conceived  the  idea  of 
organizing  a  large  company  of  Indians,  cow-boys,  Mexican 
vaqueros,  famous  riders  and  expert  lasso  throwers,  with  acces- 
sories of  stage  coach,  emigrant  wagons,  bucking  horses  and  a 
herd  of  buffaloes,  with  which  to  give  a  realistic  entertainment  of 
wild  life  on  the  plains.  To  accomplish  this  purpose,  which  in 
many  respects  was  a  really  herculean  undertaking,  I  sent  agents 
to  various  points  in  the  far  West  to  engage  Indians  from  several 
different  tribes,  and  then  set  about  the  more  difficult  enterprise 
of  capturing  a  herd  of  buffaloes.  After  several  months  of 
patient  work  I  secured  the  services  of  nearly  fifty  cow-boys  and 
Mexicans  skilled  in  lasso-throwing  and  famous  as  daring  riders, 
but  when  these  were  engaged,  and  several  buffaloes,  elk  and 
mountain  sheep  were  obtained,  I  found  all  the  difficulties  had 

693 


694  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

not  yet  been  overcome,  for  such  exhibitions  as  I  had  prepared  to 
give  could  only  be  shown  in  large  open-air  enclosures,  and  these 
were  not  always  to  be  rented,  while  those  that  I  found  suitable 
were  often  inaccessible  by  such  popular  conveyances  as  street 
cars.  The  expenses  of  such  a  show  as  I  had  determined  to  give 
were  so  great  that  a  very  large  crowd  must  be  drawn  to  every 
exhibition  or  a  financial  failure  would  be  certain ;  hence  I  soon 
found  that  my  ambitious  conception,  instead  of  bringing  me 
fortune,  was  more  likely  to  end  in  disaster.  But  having  gone 
so  far  in  the  matter  I  determined  to  see  the  end  whatever  it 
might  be. 

In  the  spring  of  1883  (May  17th)  I  opened  the  Wild  West 
Show  at  the  fair  grounds  in  Omaha,  and  played  to  very  large 
crowds,  the  weather  fortunately  proving  propitious.  We  played 
our  next  engagement  at  Springfield,  111.,  and  thence  in  all  the 
large  cities,  to  the  seaboard.  The  enterprise  was  not  a  complete 
financial  success  during  the  first  season,  though  everywhere  our 
performances  were  attended  by  immense  audiences. 

NATE    SALSBURY   JOINS    ME    AS    A   PARTNER. 

Though  I  had  made  no  money  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  the 
profit  came  to  me  in  the  way  of  valuable  experience  and  I  was  in 
no  wise  discouraged.  Flattering  offers  were  made  me  by  circus 
organizations  to  go  on  the  road  as  an  adjunct  to  their  exhibitions, 
but  I  refused  them  all,  determined  to  win  success  with  my  prairie 
Wild  West  Show  or  go  down  in  complete  failure.  The  very  large 
patronage  I  received  during  my  first  season  convinced  me  that  if 
I  could  form  a  partnership  with  some  one  capable  of  attending  to 
the  management  and  business  details  that  the  enterprise  would 
prove  a  magnificent  success,  a  belief  which  I  am  glad  to  say  was 
speedily  realized. 

My  career  on  the  stage  threw  me  in  contact  with  a  great  many 
leading  stars,  and  I  came  to  have  an  acquaintanceship  with  nearly 
all  my  contemporary  American  actors.  Among  those  with  whom 
I  became  most  intimate  was  Nate  Salsbury,  a  comedian  whose 
equal  I  do  pot  believe  graces  the  stage  of  either  America  or  En- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


695 


gland  to-day.  Aside  from  his  popularity  and  wealth,  acquired  in 
legitimate  comedy,  I  knew  him  to  be  a  reliable  friend,  and  withal 
endowed  with  a  rare  business  sagacity  that  gave  him  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  one  of  the  very  best,  as  well  as  successful,  managers 
in  the  show  business.  Knowing  his  character  as  such,  I  ap- 


NATE  SALSBURY: 


proached  him  with  a  proposition  to  join  me  as  an  equal  partner, 
in  putting  the  Wild  West  entertainment  again  on  the  road.  The 
result  of  my  overtures  was  the  formation  of  a  partnership  that 
still  continues,  and  under  the  new  management  and  partnership 
of  Cody  &  Salsbury,  the  Wild  West  has  won  all  its  glory. 


696  STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

The  reader  will  pardon  a  digression  from  the  general  scope  of 
this  autobiography  for  the  probably  more  interesting,  though  all 
too  brief,  allusion  to  the  career  of  my  esteemed  partner,  who  has 
won  success  in  life  by  struggles  quite  as  difficult  and  trying  as 
any  through  which  I  have  passed. 

Nate  (Nathan)  Salsbury  was  born  in  Freeport,  111.,  in  1846, 
when  his  parents  were  in  such  humble  circumstances  that  his 
early  training  was  all  in  the  direction  of  "  digging  sand  and  saw- 
ing wood."  As  there  was  little  to  bind  his  affections  to  the 
home  of  his  nativity,  when  the  war  broke  out  Nate  joined  the  Fif 
teenth  Illinois,  with  which  he  remained,  as  a  private  in  the  ranks, 
sixteen  months.  In  1863  he  again  enlisted  and  participated  in 
a  dozen  battles  and  was  wounded  three  times.  His  career  as  an 
active  participant  was  terminated  by  his  capture  and  incarceration 
in  Andersonville  prison,  where  he  remained  subjected  to  all  the 
horrors  of  that  dreadful  pen  for  a  period  of  seven  months.  Be- 
ing at  length  exchanged  he  returned  home  and  entered  the  law 
office  of  Judge  Beck,  now  Chief  Justice  of  Colorado,  with  the 
idea  of  becoming  a  lawyer.  A  few  months  of  office  study  and  at- 
tendance at  commercial  school  only  served  to  impress  him  with 
the  idea  that  the  profession  would  still  have  a  fairly  large  mem- 
bership even  though  his  name  were  not  added  to  the  list.  Aban- 
doning his  former  expectations  he  went  to  school  for  a  time  and 
in  the  class  exhibitions  and  amateur  theatricals  of  his  town  de- 
veloped a  desire  to  go  on  the  stage. 

The  first  experience  Nate  had  in  search  of  a  crown  for  his 
greatest  ambition  was  far  from  a  pleasant  one.  Having  saved 
up  less  than  a  score  of  dollars  he  went  to  Grand  Kapids,  Mich., 
and  there  made  application  of  the  Opera  House  managers,  Johnson, 
Gates  &  Hayden,  for  a  situation.  Mr.  Gates  asked  him  his 
line  of  business  to  which  Nate  modestly  replied,  "  Oh,  anything." 
"  Well,"  said  Oates,  "  what  salary  do  you  expect?"  "  Oh,  any- 
thing," was  the  equally  prompt  response.  Seeing  that  the  ap- 
plicant had  evidently  not  yet  passed  the  threshhold  of  the  pro- 
fession, Oates  said  to  him,  in  an  indifferent  manner.  "  I  will 
give  you  twelve  dollars  a  week  and  you'll  be  d — d  lucky  if  you 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  697 

get  a  cent."  He  didn't;  but  he  entered  the  profession,  which 
was  the  next  best  thing. 

From  Grand  Rapids  Nate  went  to  Detroit,  where  he  remained 
three  months  without  advancing  himself  either  financially  or 
professionally.  Somewhat  discouraged  he  returned  to  his  Illi- 
nois home,  but  only  to  stay  a  few  months,  when  his  restless  am- 
bition prompted  him  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  East.  Accordingly 
he  went  to  Baltimore,  and  thence  to  Boston,  where  he  secured  a 
situation  at  the  Boston  Museum  with  a  salary  of  twelve  dollars 
per  week.  Here  his  talent  was  soon  discovered  by  the  manage- 
ment, who  raised  his  salary  to  a  twenty-eight  dollars  per  week. 
Others  also  saw  the  budding  genius  of  Nate  and  after  playing  a 
season  at  the  Museum  he  accepted  the  position  of  leading  heavy 
man  at  Hooley's  theater  in  Chicago. 

His  progress  thenceforward  was  rapid,  as  his  popularity  grew 
apace  and  his  salary  rose  with  every  new  engagement.  But  there 
was  too  much  originality  in  the  man  to  permit  of  him  remaining 
a  member  of  a  stock  company,  so  at  the  conclusion  of  his  second 
season  at  Hooley's  he  conceived  and  constructed  a  comedy  enter- 
tainment, with  eight  people  in  the  cast,  to  which  he  gave  the 
title  of  "  The  Troubadours."  For  twelve  years  this  organiza- 
tion, as  originally  formed,  with  very  slight  changes,  continued 
on  the  road  and  played  repeatedly  in  all  the  largest  cities  with 
splendid  success. 

Following  "  The  Troubadours,"  Nate  wrote  another  comedy, 
called  "  Patchwork,"  which  had  a  run  of  eighteen  months,  and 
then  he  brought  out  his  most  successful  comedy,  "  The  Brook," 
which  he  wrote  entire  in  eight  hours,  and  at  a  single  sitting.  This 
piece  he  played  continuously  for  five  years,  making  a  large 
amount  of  money  and  pleasing  millions  of  people,  until  he  joined 
me  and  took  the  active  management  of  the  Wild  West  Show, 
which  compelled  him  to  withdraw  from  the  stage. 

A   BIGGER    SHOW   PUT  ON    THE    ROAD. 

Immediately  upon  forming  a  partnership  with  Salsbury  we  set 
about  increasing  the  company  and  preparing  to  greatly  enlarge 


698 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


the  exhibition.  Nearly  one  hundred  Indians,  from  several  tribes, 
were  engaged,  among  the  number  being  the  world  famous  Chief 

Sitting  Bull,  and  several  other  Sioux    that 

had  distinguished  them               Jplk  selves  in  the  Custer 

massacre.  Besides  these               IBM  we     secured     the 

^fiP*BJ^H 

services  of  many  noted  ittfl  plainsmen,  such  as 
Buck  Taylor,  the  great  mSik  rider,  lasso  throw- 
er and  King  of  the  ^^Lj^^  Cowboys;  Utah 
Frank,  John  Nelson,  4$  ^f^  anc*  a  score  of 
other  well-known  char  Jpt;  m  acters.  We  also 
captured  a  herd  of  elk,  Jp*!5:**  ^^|ft  ;l  dozen  buffaloes 
and  some  bears  with  ,|^^ /^^  JJH  which  to  illustrate 
the  chase. 


SITTING    BULL. 
THE    SHOW  IS    DUMPED  INTO  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

Our  vastly  enlarged  and  reorganized  company  gave  daily  ex- 
hibitions in  all  the  large  cities  to  enormous  crowds  during  the 
summer  of  1884,  and  in  the  fall  we  started  for  New  Orleans  to 
spend  the  winter  exhibiting  at  the  Exposition  Grounds.  We  ac- 
cordingly chartered  a  steamer  to  transport  our  property  and 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  699 

troupe  to  the  Crescent  City.  Nothing  of  moment  transpired  on 
the  trip  until  we  were  near  Rodney  Landing,  Miss.,  when  our  boat 
collided  with  another  and  was  so  badly  damaged  that  she  sank  in 
less  than  an  hour.  I»a  this  accident  we  lost  all  our  personal  effects, 
including  wagons,  camp  equipage,  arms,  ammunition,  donkeys,  buffa- 
loes and  one  elk.  We  managed,  however,  to  save  our  horses,  Dead- 
wood  coach,  band  wagon,  and — ourselves.  The  loss  thus  entailed 
was  about  $20,000. 

As  soon  as  I  could  reach  a  telegraph  station  I  hastily  sent  a 
telegram  to  Salsbury,  who  was  with  the  Troubadours  at  Denver 9 
as  follows:  "  Outfit  at  bottom  of  the  river,  what  do  you  ad- 
vise?" As  I  learned  afterwards,  Salsbury  was  just  on  the  point 
of  going  upon  the  stage  to  sing  a  song  when  my  rueful  telegram 
was  handed  him.  The  news  hit  him  hard,  but  in  no  wise  discon- 
certed him  ;  stepping  to  the  speaking  tube  connecting  with  the 
orchestra  he  shouted  to  the  leader,  "  Play  that  symphony  again 
and  a  little  louder,  I  want  to  think  a  minute."  As  the  music 
struck  up  he  wrote  out  the  following  message :  "  Go  to  New  Or- 
leans, reorganize  and  open  on  your  date,"  which  I  received  and 
promptly  complied  with  his  instructions. 

In  eight  days  I  had  added  to  the  nucleus  that  had  been  saved  a 
herd  of  buffalo  and  elk,  and  all  the  necessary  wagons  and  other 
properties,  completing  the  equipment  so  thoroughly  that  the 
show  in  many  respects  was  better  prepared  than  at  the  time  of 
the  accident  —  and  we  opened  on  our  date. 

A  SEASON  IN  NEW   YOKK. 

The  New  Orleans  exposition  did  not  prove  the  success  that 
many  of  its  promoters  anticipated  and  the  expectations  of  Mr. 
Salsbury  and  myself  were  alike  disappointed,  for  at  the  end  of 
the  winter  we  counted  our  losses  at  about  $60,000. 

The  following  summer  we  played  at  Staten  Island,  on  the 
magnificent  grounds  of  Mr.  Erastus  Wiman,  and  met  with  such 
splendid  success  that  our  losses  at  New  Orleans  were  speedily  re- 
trieved. So  well  satisfied  were  we  with  New  York  that  we  leased 
Madison  Square  Garden  for  the  winter  of  1886-87  and  gave  our  ex- 


700  STORY    OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

hibition  there  for  the  first  time  in  a  covered  space.  We  gave  two 
performances  every  day  during  the  entire  winter  and  nearly  al- 
ways played  to  crowded  houses,  though  the  seating  capacity  of 
the  place  was  about  15,000. 

AN  AMBITIOUS    BUT   HAZARDOUS    UNDERTAKING. 

The  immortal  bard  has  well  said,  "  ambition  grows  with  what  it 
feeds  on."  So  with  Salsbury  and  I,  our  unexampled  success 
throughout  America  with  the  Wild  West  show  excited  our 
ambition  to  conquer  other  nations  than  our  own.  Though  the 
idea  of  transplanting  our  exhibition,  for  a  time,  to  England  had 
frequently  occurred  to  us,  the  importance  of  such  an  undertaking 
was  enlarged  and  brought  us  to  a  more  favorable  consideration 
of  the  project  by  repeated  suggestions  from  prominent  persons 
of  America,  and  particularly  by  urgent  invitations  extended  by 
distinguished  Englishmen.  While  inclined  to  the  enterprise  we 
gave  much  thought  to  the  enormous  expense  involved  in  such 
a  step  and  might  not  have  decided  so  soon  to  try  the  rather  haz- 
ardous experiment  but  for  an  opportunity  that  promised  to  large- 
ly increase  our  chances  of  success. 

Several  leading  gentlemen  of  the  United  States  conceived  the 
idea  of  holding  an  American  Exhibition  in  the  heart  of  London 
and  to  this  end  a  company  was  organized  that  pushed  the  pro- 
ject to  a  successful  issue,  aided  as  they  were  by  several  prominent 
residents  of  the  English  capital.  When  the  enterprise  had  pro- 
gressed so  far  as  to  give  flattering  promise  of  an  opening  at  the 
time  fixed  upon,  a  proposition  was  made  to  Mr.  Salsbury  and  myself, 
by  the  president  and  directors  of  the  company,  to  take  our  show 
to  London  and  play  the  season  of  six  months  as  an  adjunct  of  the 
American  Exhibition,  the  proposition  being  a  percentage  of  the 
gate  receipts. 

After  a  mature  consideration  of  the  offer  we  accepted  it  and 
immediately  set  about  enlarging  our  organization  and  preparing 
for  a  departure  for  England. 

A  great  deal  of  preliminary  work  was  necessary,  but  we  set 
manfully  about  the  task  of  securing  the  services  of  a  hundred 


702  STORY   OF    THE    WILD   WEST. 

Indians,  representative  types  of  the  Sioux,  Cheyenne,  Kiowa, 
Pawnee  and  Ogalallas  tribes,  and  succeeded  in  getting  the  re- 
quired number,  none  of  whom  had  ever  been  off  their  reserva- 
tions prior  to  joining  my  show.  Among  the  prominent  chiefs 
thus  engaged  was  Red  Shirt,  a  redoubtable  warrior  and  second 
only  in  influence  to  Sitting  Bull  himself.  A  short  while  before 
his  engagement  with  us  he  had  quelled  an  uprising  among  his 
people,  instigated  by  a  pretender  to  the  chieftainship  of  the 
tribe,  by  invading  the  pretender's  camp  with  only  two  of  his 
followers  and  shooting  the  leader  dead  before  the  eyes  of  his 
affrighted  wife.  This  fearless  act  had  served  to  elevate  him  very 
much  in  the  eyes  of  his  people,  who  thereafter  accepted  him  as 
a  leader.  When,  therefore,  he  decided  to  join  the  Wild  West 
show,  under  the  flattering  offers  I  made  him,  his  influence  aided 
us  very  much  in  procuring  our  complement  of  Indians,  not  only 
from  his  own  tribe,  but  from  others  as  well. 

SEEKING   NEW   WORLDS    TO    CONQUER. 

Our  arrangements  having  at  length  been  completed,  by  col- 
lecting together  a  company  of  more  than  two  hundred  men  and 
animals,  consisting  of  Indians,  cowboys,  (including  the  celebrated 
Cowboy  band,)  Mexican  wild  riders,  celebrated  rifle  shots,  buf- 
faloes, Texas  steers,  burros,  bronchos,  racing  horses,  elk,  bears, 
and  an  immense  amount  of  camp  paraphernalia,  such  as  tents, 
wagons,  stage  coach,  etc.,  we  chartered  the  steamship  State  of 
Nebraska,  of  the  State  line,  Capt.  Braes,  and  were  ready  to  set  sail 
to  a  country  that  I  had  long  wished  to  visit, —  the  Motherland. 
Accordingly,  on  Thursday,  March  31st,  1887,  we  set  sail  from 
New  York,  the  piers  crowded  with  thousands  of  our  good  friends 
who  came  down  to  wave  their  adieux  and  to  wish  us  a  pleasant 
voyage.  Our  departure  was  an  occasion  I  shall  never  forget, 
for  as  the  ship  drew  away  from  the  pier  such  cheers  went  up  as 
I  never  before  heard,  while  our  Cowboy  band  played  "  The  Girl 
I  left  Behind  Me  "  in  a  manner  that  suggested  more  reality  than 
empty  sentiment  in  the  familiar  air.  Salsbury  and  I,  and  my 
daughter  Arta,  waved  our  hats  in  sad  farewells  and  stood  upon 


704  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

the  deck  watching  the  still  cheering  crowd  until  they  faded  in 
the  distance,  and  we  were  out  upon  the  deep,  for  the  first  time 
in  my  life. 

THE  INDIANS'  FEARS  ARE  EXCITED. 

Before  starting  on  the  trip  several  of  the  Indians  expressed 
grave  fears  that  if  they  trusted  themselves  to  the  great  waters  a 
horrible  death  would  soon  overtake  them,  and  at  the  last  moment 
it  required  all  our  arts  of  persuasion  to  induce  them  to  go  on 
board. 

Red  Shirt  explained  that  these  fears  were  caused  by  a  belief 
prevalent  among  many  tribes  of  Indians,  that  if  a  red  man  at- 
tempted to  cross  the  ocean,  soon  after  beginning  his  journey  he 
would  be  seized  of  a  malady  that  would  first  prostrate  the  victim 
and  then  slowly  consume  his  flesh,  day  after  day,  until  at  letfgth 
the  very  skin  itself  would  drop  from  his  bones,  leaving  nothing 
but  the  skeleton  and  this  even  could  never  find  burial.  This 
gruesome  belief  was  repeated  by  chiefs  of  the  several  tribes  to 
the  Indians  who  had  joined  me,  so  that  there  is  little  reason  for 
wonder,  that  with  all  our  assurances,  the  poor  unlearned  children 
of  a  nature  run  riot  by  neglect,  should  hesitate  to  submit  them- 
selves to  such  an  experiment. 

On  the  day  following  our  departure  from  New  York  the  In- 
dians began  to  grow  weary  and  their  stomachs,  like  my  own,  be- 
came both  treacherous  and  rebellious.  Their  fears  were  now  so 
greatly  intensified  that  even  Red  Shirt,  the  bravest  of  his  people, 
looked  anxiously  towards  the  hereafter,  and  began  to  feel  his 
flesh  to  see  if  it  were  really  diminishing.  The  seal  of  hope- 
lessness stamped  upon  the  faces  of  the  Indians  aroused  my  pity, 
and  though  sick  as  a  cow  with  hollow-horn  myself,  I  used  my  ut- 
most endeavors  to  cheer  them  up  and  relieve  their  forebodings. 
But  for  two  days  nearly  the  whole  company  was  too  sick  for  any 
other  active  service  than  feeding  the  fishes,  in  which  I  am  not 
proud  to  say  that  I  performed  more  than  an  ordinary  share. 
On  the  third  day,  however,  we  all  began  to  mend  so  far  that  I 
called  the  Indians  together  in  the  main  saloon  and  gave  them  a 


705 


706  STORY   OF    THE    WILD   WEST. 

Sunday  address,  as  did  also  Red  Start,  who  was  now  recovered 
from  his  anxiety  about  the  future. 

After  the  third  day  at  sea  we  had  an  entertainment  every  af- 
ternoon, in  which  Mr.  Salsbury,  as  singer  and  comedian,  took 
the  leading  part,  to  the  intense  delight  of  all  on  board.  On  the 
seventh  day  a  storm  came  up  that  raged  so  fiercely  that  for  a 
time  the  ship  had  to  lay  to,  and  during  which  our  stock  suffered 
greatly,  but  we  gave  them  such  good  care,  and  had  such  excellent 
luck  as  well,  that  none  of  our  animals,  save  one  horse,  died  on 
the  trip. 


At  last  as  we  cast  anchor  off  Gravesend  a  tug  boat  approaching 
attracted  the  entire  company  on  deck,  for  we  were  expecting  to 
meet  our  advance  manager,  Jno.  M.  Burke,  with  general  instruc- 
tions as  to  our  landing,  etc.  It  turned  out,  however,  to  be  a 
government  boat  loaded  with  custom-house  and  quarantine  offi- 
cials, under  whom  we  were  to  pass  the  usual  inspection.  Another 
official  accompanied  them,  with  whom  arrangements  had  been 
made  for  the  passage  of  our  arms,  as  a  restriction  was  placed 
upon  the  landing  of  our  ammunition,  of  which  we  had  brought  a 
large  quantity,  the  English  government  regulations  requiring  that 
it  be  unloaded  .and  turned  over  to  the  arsenal  authorities,  in  whose 
charge  it  was  kept  during  our  stay  in  London,  we  drawing  on 
them  daily  for  our  supply  as  needed.  I  feel  in  duty  bound  to 
acknowledge  here  that  the  English  government,  through  its  dif- 
ferent officials,  extended  to  us  every  kind  of  courtesy,  privileges 
and  general  facilities  that  materially  assisted  in  rendering  pleasant 
the  last  few  hours  of  a  remarkable  voyage.  The  bo  vines  and 
buffalo  that  were  a  part  of  our  outfit  were  inspected,  and  a  special 
permit  granted  us  to  take  them  to  the  Albert  dock,  the  place  of 
our  debarkation,  and  after  holding  them  in  quarantine  there  for 
a  few  days  they  were  allowed  to  join  us  in  camp. 

Recent  disastrous  outbreaks  of  rinderpest,  foot  and  mouth  dis- 
ease, and  other  ills  that  bovine  flesh  is  heir  to,  necessitate  the 
law  being  very  strict  as  regards  importation  of  cattle,  all  foreign 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  BUFFALO   BILL.  707 

beasts  being  required  to  be  killed  within  twenty-four  hours  after 
their  arrival. 

SOME    ANXIOUS    REFLECTIONS. 

During  this  delay  time  was  given  me  for  reflection  and  gradu- 
ally as  my  eyes  wandered  over  the  crowded  waterway  with  its 
myriads  of  crafts  of  every  description,  from  the  quaint  channel 
fishing-boat  to  the  mammoth  East  India  trader  and  ocean 
steamers,  topped  by  the  flags  of  all  nations  and  hailing  from 
every  accessible  part  of  the  known  world,  carrying  the  produc- 
tions of  every  clime  and  laden  with  every  commodity,  I  thought 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  enterprise  I  was  engaged  in  and  wonder- 
ed what  its  results  would  be. 

The  freight  I  had  brought  with  me  across  the  broad  Atlantic 
was  such  a  strange  and  curious  one  that  I  naturally  wondered 
whether,  after  all  trouble,  time  and  expense  it  had  cost  me,  this 
pioneer  cargo  of  Nebraska  goods  would  be  marketable.  In  fact, 
it  would  take  a  much  more  facile  pen  than  mine  to  portray  the 
thick  crowding  thoughts  that  scurried  through  my  brain.  Stand- 
ing on  the  deck  of  a  ship,  called  the  "  State  of  Nebraska,"  whose 
arrival  had  evidently  been  watched  for  with  great  curiosity,  as 
the  number  of  yachts,  tug  boats  and  other  crafts  which  surrounded 
us  attested,  my  memory  wandered  back  to  the  days  of  my  youth, 
when  in  search  of  the  necessaries  of  existence  and  braving  the 
dangers  of  the  then  vast  wild  plains,  a  section  of  which  com- 
prised the  then  unsettled  territory  of  Nebraska.  I  contrasted 
that  epoch  of  my  life,  its  lonely  duties  and  its  hardships,  and  al 
its  complex  history,  as  the  home  and  battle-ground  of  a  savage 
foe,  with  its  present  great  prosperity  and  its  standing  as  the  em- 
pire State  of  the  central  West.  A  certain  feeling  of  pride  came 
over  me  when  I  thought  of  the  good  ship  on  whose  deck  I  stood, 
and  that  her  cargo  consisted  of  early  pioneers  and  rude,  rough 
riders  from  that  section,  and  of  the  wild  horses  of  the  same  dis- 
trict, buffalo,  deer,  elk  and  antelope  —  the  king  game  of  the 
prairie, —  together  with  over  one  hundred  representatives  of  that 
savage  foe  that  had  been  compelled  to  submit  to  a  conquering 


71)8  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

civilization  and  were  now  accompanying  me  in  friendship,  loyalty 
and  peace,  five  thousand  miles  from  their  homes,  braving  th,Q 
dangers  of  the  to  them  great  unknown  sea,  now  no  longer  a 
tradition,  but  a  reality  —  all  of  us  combined  in  an  exhibition  in- 
tended to  prove  to  the  center  of  old  world  civilization  that  the 
vast  region  of  the  United  States  was  finally  and  effectively  settled 
by  the  English-speaking  race. 

OUR    RECEPTION    IN    ENGLAND. 

This  train  of  thought  was  interrupted  by  the  sight  of  a  tug 
with  the  starry  banner  flying  from  her  peak  bearing  down  upon 
us,  and  a  tumultuous  waving  of  handkerchiefs  on  board,  evoking 
shouts  and  cheers  from  all  our  company. 

As  the  tug  came  nearer,  strains  of  "  The  Star  Spangled  Ban- 
ner," rendered  by  a  band  on  her  deck,  fell  upon  our  ears,  and 
immediately  our  own  Cowboy  band  responded  with  "Yankee 
Doodle,"  creating  a  general  tumult  on  our  ship  as  the  word  was 
passed  from  bow  to  stern  that  friends  were  near.  Once  along- 
side, the  company  on  board  the  tug  proved  to  be  the  directors  of 
the  American  Exhibition,  with  Lord  Ronald  Gower  heading  a 
distinguished  committee  accompanied  by  Maj.  Burke  and  repre- 
sentatives of  the  leading  journals,  who  made  us  feel  at  last  that 
our  sea  voyage  was  ended. 

FIRST    IMPRESSIONS    OF    LONDON. 

After  the  usual  introductions,  greetings  and  reception  of  in- 
structions, I  accompanied  the  committee  on  shore  at  Gravesend, 
where  quite  an  ovation  was  given  us  amid  cries  of  "  Welcome  to 
old  England"  and  "  three  cheers  for  Bill,"  which  gave  pleas- 
ing evidence  of  the  public  interest  that  had  been  awakened  in  our 


coming. 


A  special  train  of  saloon  carriages  was  waiting  to  convey  us  to 
London  and  we  soon  left  the  quaint  old  Kentish  town  behind  us, 
and  in  an  hour  we  arrived  at  Victoria  station.  The  high  road-bed 
of  the  railroad,  which  runs  level  with  the  chimney  tops,  was  a 
novel  sight,  as  we  scurried  along  through  what  seemed  to  be  an 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  709 

endless  sea  of  habitation,  and  I  have  scarcely  yet  found  out 
where  Gravesend  finishes  and  London  commences,  so  dense  is  the 
population  of  the  suburbs  off  the  "  boss  village  "  of  the  British 
Isles,  and  so  numerous  the  small  towns  through  which  we 
passed.  The  impression  created  by  the  grand  Victoria  station, 
by  the  underground  railroad,  the  strange  sights  and  busy  scenes 
of  the  "  West  End,"  the  hustle  and  the  bustle  of  a  first  evening 
view  of  mighty  London,  would  alone  make  a  chapter. 

My  first  opinion  of  the  streets  was  that  they  were  sufficiently 
lively  and  noisy  to  have  alarmed  all  the  dogs  in  every  Indian 
village  in  the  Platte  country,  from  the  Missouri  river  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Platte,  in  its  most  primitive  days, 

A  short  trip  on  the  somewhat  dark  and  sulphurous  under- 
ground railroad  brought  us  to  West  Kensington,  a  quiet  section 
of  the  West  End,  the  station  of  which  had  been  already  connected 
by  special  bridges,  then  nearly  completed,  with  the  grounds  as 
yet  unknown  to  London,  but  destined  to  become  the  scene  of 
several  months'  continuous  triumphs.  Entering  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  exhibition  we  found  a  bounteous  repast  set  and  a 
generous  welcome  accorded  us.  The  heartiness  of  my  reception, 
combined  with  the  natural  sense  of  relief  after  such  a  journey 
and  the  general  indications  of  success,  proved  a  happy  relaxa- 
tion of  the  nervous  strain  to  which  I  had  been  subjected  for  sev- 
eral weeks.  Speeches,  toasts  and  well  wishes,  etc.,  accompanied 
the  spirited  and  spirituous  celebration  of  the  occasion.  My 
genial  hosts'  capacity  for  the  liquid  refreshments  would  have 
made  me  envy  them  in  the  60s,  and  led  me  to  suspect  that  there 
might  be  accomplishments  in  England  in  which  even  western 
pioneers  are  excelled. 

PREPARING  THE  EXHIBITION  GROUNDS. 

After  brief  social  converse,  and  a  tranquilizing  smoke,  we 
made  a  casuai  visit  to  the  grounds,  where  the  preparations  for  the 
stabling,  the  aiena  and  the  grand  stand,  with  busy  hundreds  of 
workmen  hastening  their  completions  by  night  by  the  aid  of 
iucigen  lights  anc1  bon-fires,  presented  an  animated  scene,  and  a 


710  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

display  of  energy  rarely  witnessed  in  connection  with  an  amuse- 
ment enterprise.  These  operations  were  dealing  with  the  expen- 
diture of  $125,000,  including  the  fencing  in  of  an  arena  more 
than  a  third  of  a  mile  in  circumference,  flanked  by  a  grand  stand 
filled  with  seats  and  boxes,  estimated  to  accommodate  20,000  per- 
sons. Sheltered  stands  for  10,000  more  were  also  being  erected  ; 
it  being  understood  that  room  for  40,000  spectators  in  all  should 
be  provided  at  each  performance.  For  the  Indian  encampment 
a  large  hill  had  been  thrown  up  by  spare  labor,  and  this  was  al- 
ready decorated  by  a  grove  of  newly  planted  trees.  The  stables 
for  horses,  mules  and  mustangs,  and  the  corrals  for  buffaloes, 
antelope,  elk,  etc.,  were  all  in  simultaneous  course  of  construction. 
Everything  so  far  impressed  me  very  favorably  and  I  began  tc 
feel  that  if  we  did  not  command  success  we  would,  with  our  ad- 
vantages of  location,  surroundings  and  novelty  and  realism,  a1 
least  deserve  it. 

The  interest  evinced  by  the  British  workmen  in  my  presence 
detracting  somewhat  from  their  attention  to  business,  caused  us 
to  retire  after  a  brief  inspection.  This  same  curiosity  however 
was  as  a  straw  indicating  which  way  the  wind  blew.  I  was  now, 
for  the  first  time,  introduced  in  its  OAvn  habitat  to  that  world- 
famed  vehicle,  the  London  hansom  cab.  In  one  of  them  I  was 
whirled  through  the  West  End,  past  the  famous  Hyde  Park, 
through  Piccadilly,  around  Leicester  and  Trafalgar  squares,  to  that 
central  resort  and  theatrical  hub  of  this  vast  community,  the 
Strand.  This  narrow  street,  in  its  relation  to  the  great  city,  re- 
minded me  of  one  of  the  contracted  passes  in  the  "  Rockies,"  to 
which  traffic  had  been  naturally  attracted,  and  usage  had  made  a 
necessity.  The  density  of  its  foot'  traffic,  the  thronging  herd  of 
omnibuses,  the  twisting,  wriggling,  shouting,  whip-cracking  cab- 
bies, seemed  like  Broadway  squeezed  narrower,  and  I  realized 
at  once  the  utility  and  necessity  of  the  two-wheeled  curio  in 
which  I  was  whirled  through  the  bewildering  mingle  of  Strand 
traffic.  With  but  one  or  two  hub-bumps  we  were1  soon  landed  at 
the  magnificent  hotel  Metropole,  in  Northumberland  avenue, 
where  I  met  many  American  gentlemen  from  different  cities,  who 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  711 

recognized  me  on  sight  and  gave  me  hearty  greeting.  I  retired 
early,  determined  to  retrace  my  steps  to  Gravesend  at  daylight 
and  ascend  the  Thames  on  board  the  Nebraska,  as  my  great 
anxiety  was  the  successful  debarkation. 

STEAMING   UP   THE   THAMES. 

Steaming  up  on  an  early  tide,  which  at  its  flood  I  now  felt 
certain  would  lead  on  to  fortune,  and  with  flags  flying,  we  en- 
tered amid  a  perfect  ovation  the  great  port  of  London.  The  short 
trip  made  on  that  bright  morning  was  one  of  great  pleasure  to 
all  on  board.  The  ship's  officers  pointed  out  the  many  sites  of 
historical  interest,  as  we  steamed  past  them,  such  as  the  Old 
Tillbury  Fort,  facing  Gravesend,  erected  by  Henry  the  Eighth, 
and  memorable  as  the  place  where  Queen  Elizabeth  reviewed  her 
troops  after  the  destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada.  Woolwich 
and  its  mighty  arsenals  and  gun  factories;  Greenwich  with  its 
grand  old  Naval  College,  now  used  as  a  free  hospital  for  sick 
seamen  of  all  nations,  in  front  of  which  stands  the  obelisk  erected 
to  the  dauntless  explorer,  Billot,  at  the  back  of  it  the  emerald 
hills  of  the  Old  Park,  topped  by  the  observatory  which  supplies 
the  correct  time  —  all  of  these  engaged  our  attention  in  turn. 
As  we  moved  slowly  up  the  tideway,  the  huge  fleets  of  sea- 
going vessels  became  more  crowded;  forests  of  masts  and  spars 
stretching  away  seemingly  in  illimitable  perspective,  while  on  our 
starboard  side  the  extensive  docks  in  an  endless  series  spoke  of 
the  majesty  of  commerce  and  the  overflowing  glories  of  what 
Englishmen  only  call  "  The  Port  of  London."  This  magnificent 
revelation  reminded  me  of  a  remark  made  by  an  English  gentle- 
man on  the  street,  who  said,  "  we  may  not  be  very  large  geo- 
graphically, but  we  are  gigantic  commercially." 

My  attention  was  especially  attracted  by  a  movable  crane  in  the 
center  of  one  great  basin  taking  up  a  car  containing  20  tons  of 
coal  and  emptying  it  in  the  hole  of  a  ship  in  a  few  seconds. 

ESTABLISHING    OUR   CAMP A   QUEER   SCENE. 

With  the  assistance  of  our  horsemen,  each  looking  after  his 
u)wn  horse,  we  were  unloaded  with  a  rapidity  that  astonished 


712 


STORY   OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 


even  the  old  dock  hands  and  officials.  Through  the  courtesy  of 
the  custom  house  people,  there  was  hardly  a  moment's  delay  in 
the  process  of  debarkation,  but  although  landed  in  London,  we 
were  still  twelve  miles  from  our  future  camp.  So,  quickly  loading 
our  entire  outfit  on  three  trains  we  were  very  speedily  de- 
livered at  the  Midland  railway  depot,  almost  adjoining  our 
grounds,  and  by  four  o'clock  that  afternoon  the  horses  were  in 
the  stables,  watered,  fed,  and  bedded,  camp  equipage  and  bed- 
ding distributed;  our  own  regular  camp  cooks  were  hasten- 


ing  a  meal;  tents  were  going  up,  stoves  being  erected,  tables 
spread  and  set  in  the  open  air;  tepees  rapidly  erected,  and  by 
6  o'clock  a  perfect  canvas  city  had  sprung  up  in  the  heart  of 
West-End  London.  The  halliards  of  the  flag  staff  raised  the 
starry  banner  to  the  breeze,  and  as  the  Cowboy  band  rendered  our 
national  air  a  storm  of  shouts  and  cheers  went  up  from  the 
thousands  that  lined  the  walls,  streets  and  house-tops  of  the  sur- 
rounding neighborhoods.  This  was  very  gratifying,  and  in 
answer  to  these  hearty  plaudits  we  gave  them  "  God  Save  the 
Queen/ '  and  so  The  Wild  West  and  Bill  Cody,  of  Nebraska,  U. 
S.  A.,  "  was  at  home  in  camp  in  London."  The  first  domestic 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  713 

episode  (our  camp-meal  being  necessarily  eaten  in  full  view  of  our 
kindly  neighbors,  the  large  dining  tents  not  yet  being  up),  was  as 
novel  to  them,  from  our  variegated  and  motley  population  of  In- 
dians, cowboys,  scouts,  Mexicans,  etc.,  and  eminently  practical 
method  of  "  grubbing,"  as  the  supply  of  fresh  beef,  mutton, 
corn-bread,  ham,  etc.,  V Americaine  was  grateful  to  our  sea- 
faring palates.  The  meal  was  finished  by  seven  o'clock,  and  by 
9  p.  m.  the  little  camp  was  almost  as  complete  as  if  it  had  been 
there  for  months,  and  its  tired  occupants,  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, were  reposing  more  snugly  and  peacefully  than  they  had  done 
in  many  weeks. 

AMERICAN   METHODS    OF    DOING   BUSINESS    EXCITE  FAVORABLE  SUR- 
PRISE. 

Trivial  as  these  details  may  appear  at  first  sight,  the  rapidity 
with  which  we  had  transported  our  stuff  from  dock  to  depot,  and 
depot  to  grounds,  and  made  our  camp  as  above  related,  had  an 
immense  effect.  The  number  of  notable  visitors  present,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  press  and  the  well-to-do  people  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, expressed  surprise  and  astonishment,  and  communicated 
the  same  feeling  to  the  whole  of  London.  It  was  generally  re- 
marked, "  By  St.  George,  the  Yankees  mean  business.'*  As  we 
had  several  days  before  the  opening  there  were  plenty  of  oppor- 
tunities given  me  to  receive  the  many  distinguished  persons  who 
called,  and  whom  I  afterwards  found  so  friendly  and  hospitable. 
Mr.  Henry  Irving,  who  had  witnessed  our  performance  atStaten 
Island,  and  who  had  kindly  assisted  in  the  most  generous  manner 
to  pave  the  way  for  our  success,  was  among  the  first  to  offer  his 
kindly  offices  and  lent  us  a  strength  of  public,  professional,  per- 
sonal, and  social  influence  that  to  me  was  almost  invaluable.  He 
had  already,  long  before  our  arrival,  spoken  of  us  in  the  kindest 
terms  to  a  representative  of  the  Era,  the  principal  dramatic  organ 
of  London ;  and  I  may  here  take  the  liberty  of  quoting  a  portion 
of  his  highly  sympathetic  remarks :  — 

HENRY  IRVING' s  GENEROUS  PRAISE. 

"  I  saw  an  entertainment  in  New  York  the  like  of  which  I  had  never  seen  be- 
fore, which  impressed  me  immensely.     It  is  coming  to  London,  and  will  be 


714  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

exhibited  somewhere  near  Earl's  Court,  on  the  grounds  of  the  forthcoming 
American  Exhibition.  It  is  an  entertainment  in  which  the  whole  of  the  most 
interesting  episodes  of  life  on  the  extreme  frontier  of  civilization  in  America  are 
represented  with  the  most  graphic  vividness  and  scrupulosity  of  detail.  You 
may  form  some  idea  of  the  scale  upon  which  the  scene  is  played  when  I  say  that 
when  I  saw  it  the  stage  extended  over  five  acres.  You  have  real  cowboys,  with 
bucking  horses,  real  buffaloes,  and  great  hordes  of  cows,  which  are  lassoed  and 
stampeded  in  the  most  realistic  fashion  imaginable.  Then  there  are  real  In- 
dians, who  execute  attacks  upon  coaches  driven  at  full  speed.  No  one  can  ex- 
aggerate the  extreme  excitement  and  «  go  '  of  the  whole  performance.  However 
well  it  may  be  rehearsed  —  and  the  greatest  care  is  taken  that  it  shall  go 
properly  —  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  a  considerable  share  of  the  impromptu  and 
the  unforeseen.  For  you  may  rehearse  with  buffaloes  as  much  as  you  like,  but 
no  one  can  say  in  what  way  they  will  stampede  when  they  are  suddenly  turned 
loose  in  the  open.  No  one  can  say  how  the  ox  has  to  be  lassoed,  or  in  what 
way  the  guns  have  to  be  fired  when  the  border  fight  comes  on.  The  excitement 
is  immense,  and  I  venture  to  predict  that  when  it  comes  to  London  it  will  take 
the  town  by  storm." 

A  writer  in  the  same  journal  had  published  the  following  lively 
description  of  our  doings  at  Erastina,  Staten  Island.  I  place 
this  article  here  as  an  evidence  of  the  good-natured  way  in  which 
the  English  press  had  prepared  the  public  mind  for  our  coming, 
and  a  partial  explanation  of  the  avidity  with  which  our  opening 
day  was  looked  for:  — 

A  WILD  WEST  PERFORMANCE. 

"  In  the  grove  of  Erastina,  is  the  Wild  West  encampment,  adjoining  the  ex- 
hibition grounds.  It  is  not  unlike  a  military  camp,  with  its  headquarters  under 
canvas,  and  its  grouped  tepees  savagely  ornamented  with  scalps  and  feathers. 
The  picturesque  Indian  children  playing  under  the  trees,  the  uncouth,  extem- 
porized comfort  and  the  prevailing  air  of  organization  give  it  a  novel  interest. 
There  are  no  restrictions  upon  visitors,  who  are  allowed  to  enter  the  tents, 
chuck  the  Indian  babies  under  the  chin,  watch  the  squaws  at  work,  and  inter- 
view the  patriarchial  chief  who  sits  grim  and  stoical  on  his  blanket.  Of  the 
exhibition  on  the  grounds  (and  the  proprietors  will  not  allow  you  to  call  it  a 
performance),  especially  at  night  when  lit  by  the  electric  lights,  the  wild  beauty 
of  it  is  an  entirely  new  element  in  our  arena  sports.  When  I  saw  it  there  were 
by  gate  record  12,000  people  on  the  stands,  which  you  will  understand  is  the 
population  of  a  goodly  town.  A  stentorian  voice  in  front  of  the  grand  stand 
makes  the  announcements,  and  as  he  does  soj  the  bands  make  their  entry  from 
the  extreme  end  of  the  grounds,  dashing  up  to  the  stand,  a  third  of  a  mile,  at  a 
whirlwind  pace.  As  an  exhibition  of  equestrianism  nothing  in  the  world  can 
equal  this.  Pawnees,  Sioux,  Cut  Off  Band,  Ogalallas,  cowboys,  make  this 
dash  in  groups,  successively,  and  pull  up  in  a  growing  array  before  the  stand 
200  strong.  Such  daredevil  riding  was  never  seen  among  Cossacks,  Tartars, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


715 


Arabs.  All  the  picturesque  horsemanship  of  the  famous  Bedouins  sinks  to 
child's  play  before  these  reckless  Mamelukes  of  the  plains.  When  the  American 
cowboys  sweep  like  a  tornado  up  the  track,  forty  or  fifty  strong,  every  man 
swinging  his  hat  and  every  pony  at  his  utmost  speed,  a  roar  of  wonder  and  de- 
light breaks  from  the  thousands,  and  the  men  reach  the  grand  stand  in  a  cloud, 
wejcomed  by  a  thunderburst.  Col.  Cody,  the  far-famed  Buffalo  Bill,  comes 
last.  I  don't  know  that  anybody  ever  described  Buffalo  Bill  on  a  horse.  I  am 
inclined  to  think  nobody  can.  Ainsworth's  description  of  Dick  Turpin's  ride 
stood  for  many  years  as  the  finest  thing  of  its  kind,  and  then  young  Winthrop 
in  his  clever  story  of  'John  Brent'  excelled  it  in  his  ride  to  the  Suggernell 
Springs.  Either  one  of  these  men,  given  a  month  and  a  safe  publisher,  might 
have  wrought  Buffalo  Bill  upon  paper.  He  is  the  complete  restoration  of  the 


OUR  FIRST  EVENING  PERFORMANCE  —  BY  THE  ELECTRIC  LIGHT IN  LONDON. 

Centaur.  No  one  that  I  ever  saw  so  adequately  fulfills  to  the  eye  all  the  con- 
ditions of  picturesque  beauty,  absolute  grace,  and  perfect  identity  with  his 
animal.  If  an  artist  or  a  riding  master  had  wanted  to  mould  a  living  ideal  of 
romantic  equestrianship,  containing  in  outline  and  action  the  men  of  Harry  of 
Navarre,  the  Americanism  of  Custer,  the  automatic  majesty  of  the  Indian,  and 
the  untutored  cussedness  of  the  cowboy,  he  would  have  measured  Buffalo  Bill 
in  the  saddle.  Motion  swings  into  music  with  him.  He  is  the  only  man  I  ever 
saw  who  rides  as  if  he  couldn't  help  it  and  the  sculptor  and  the  soldier  had 
jointly  come  together  in  his  act.  It  is  well  worth  a  visit  to  Erastina. 
to  see  that  vast  parterre  of  people  break  into  white  handkerchiefs, 
like  a  calm  sea  suddenly  whipped  to  foam,  as  this  man  dashes  up 
to  the  grand  stand.  How  encumbered,  and  uncouth  and  wooden  are  the 


716  STORY   OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

best  of  the  red  braves  beside  the  martial  leadership  of  this  long-limbed 
pale-face!  There  they  are,  drawn  up  in  platoon  front.  No  circus  can 
approximate  its  actuality.  Look  down  the  line.  Every  man  has  a  record 
of  daring,  and  there,  shaking  her  long  hair,  is  Georgie  Duffie,  the  Colorado 
girl.  A  word  of  command,  the  line  breaks.  Away  they  go  with  shouts  and 
yells.  In  an  instant  the  grounds  are  covered  with  the  vanishing  hoofs. 
Feathers  and  war-paint  glimmer  in  the  mad  swirl  and  they  are  gone  in  the  dis- 
tance. It  is  impossible  to  escape  the  thrill  of  this  intense  action.  The  enthu- 
siasm of  the  multitude  goes  with  them.  All  the  abeyant  savagery  in  the  blood  and 
bones  comes  to  the  surface,  and  men  and  women  shout  together.  An  impression 
prevailed  among  some  of  the  spectators  that  these  wild  bucking  horses  are 
trained  after  the  manner  of  circus  horses.  Nothing  can  be  further  from  the 
truth,  as  I  had  occasion  to  learn  after  staying  at  the  camp  for  two  or  tkree 
days  and  making  their  acquaintance.  They  are  simply  wild  horses  spoiled  in 
the  breaking.  There  is  one  black  mare  they  call  Dynamite  that  is,  without  ex- 
ception, the  wickedest  animal  I  ever  saw.  You  are  to  understand  that  when 
a  man  attempts  to  mount  her  she  jumps  into  the  air,  and  turning  a  back  somer- 
sault, falls  upon  her  back  with  her  heels  upward.  To  escape  being  crushed  to 
death  is  to  employ  the  marvelous  celerity  and  dexterity  that  a  cowboy  alone 
exhibits.  The  other  day  a  cowboy  undertook  to  ride  this  animal.  It  was  nec- 
essary for  four  men  to  hold  her  and  she  had  to  be  blindfolded  before  he  could 
get  on  her,  and  then,  letting  out  a  scream  like  a  woman  in  pain,  she  made  a 
headlong  dash  and  plunged  with  all  her  force  into  a  fence,  turning  completely 
over  head  first  and  apparently  falling  upon  the  rider.  A  cry  of  horror  rose 
from  the  spectators.  But  the  rest  of  the  exhibition  went  on.  Poor  Jim  was 
dragged  out,  bleeding  and  maimed,  and  led  away.  What  was  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  multitude,  when  the  other  refractory  animals  had  had  their  sport, 
to  see  Dynamite  again  led  out  and  the  cowboy,  limping  and  pale,  came  forward 
to  make  another  attempt  to  ride  her.  *  No,  no,'  cried  the  spectators,  *  take 
her  away.'  But  the  indomitable  cowboy  only  smiled  grimly  and  gave  them  to 
understand  that  in  the  cowboys'  code  a  man  who  failed  to  ride  his  animal  might 
as  well  retire  from  business.  It  was  do  or  die.  For  fifteen  minutes  the  fight 
went  on  between  man  and  beast.  Animal  strength  against  pluck  and  intelli- 
gence. I  never  saw  a  multitude  brought  to  such  intense  interest.  It  was  the 
gladiatorial  contest  revived.  The  infuriated  beast  shook  off  the  men  who  held 
her  like  insects.  She  lept  into  the  air  with  a  scream  and  fell  on  her  back.  She 
laid  down  and  grovelled.  But  the  cowboy  got  upon  her  back  by  some 
superhuman  skill,  and  then  he  was  master.  As  he  punished  the  animal  merci- 
lessly and  swung  his  hat  triumphantly,  the  concourse  of  people  stood  up  and 
cheered  long  and  loud." 

HELPFUL  INFLUENCE  FROM  DISTINGUISHED  PERSONS. 

Not  only  England's  greatest  actor  living  but  his  old  friend  the 
genial  Jno.  L.  Toole,  Miss  Ellen  Terry,  Mr.  Justin  McCarthy, 
M.  P..  Minister  Phelps,  Consul-General  Gov.  Thos.  Waller,  Dep- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


717 


uty  Consul  Moffat  (to  whom  we  are  greatly  indebted  for  assis- 
tance rendered  us  in  landing),  Mr.  Henry  Labouchere,  Miss  Mary 
Anderson,  Mrs.  Brown-Potter,  Mr.  Chas.  Wyndham,  and  in  fact 
all  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  theatrical  profession,  and 
the  literati  in  general,  seemed  to  take  an  immense  and  friendly 
interest  in  our  enterprise.  Lord  Ronald  Gower,  Sir  Cundiffe 
Owen,  Lord  Henry  Pagett,  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael  of  Russia,  who  was  an  early  jubilee  visitor,  Lady 
Monckton,  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  private  secretary  to  the  Prince 


of  Wales,  Colonel  Clark,  Colonel  Montague,  Lady  Alice  Bective* 
whom  the  Indians  presently  named  "  The  sunshine  of  the  camp," 
Lord  Strathmore,  Lord  Windsor,  Lady  Randolph  Churchill,  Mrs. 
J.  W.  Mackay ,  a  host  of  distinguished  American  residents  of  Lon- 
don and  hundreds  of  other  prominent  personages,  visited  the 
camp  and  stables  before  the  regular  opening,  and  by  their  ex- 
pressions of  friendship  and  good-will  gave  us  the  greatest  en- 
couragement for  the  future.  It  thus  became  increasingly  evident 
to  me  that  we  had  struck  a  responsive  chord  in  the  heart  of  all 
Londoners.  The  sight  of  the  Indians,  cowboys,  American 


718  STORY    OF   THE    WILD    WEST. 

girls,  and  Mexicans  living  in  their  primitive  simplicity,  was  very 
attractive  to  them,  while  the  innate  English  love  of  horseman- 
ship and  feats  of  skill  presaged  an  appreciative  community  which 
I  must  say  from  the  first  to  last  never  disappointed  us.  In  fact, 
it  may  be  said  we  commenced  business  with  a  strong  predispo- 
sition of  all  Englishmen  to  be  pleased  with  us  if  we  gave  the  pub- 
lic anything  at  all  approaching  the  surprising  novelty  of  brilliant 
realism  they  had  been  led  to  expect.  The  press  were  generous 
to  us  to  an  extent  possibly  never  before  known.  Its  columns 
were  teeming  daily  with  information  about  us,  so  eulogistic  that 
I  almost  feared  we  would  not  come  up  to  expectations.  Twenty- 
five  scrap  books  filled  to  repletion  with  such  notices  now  adorn 
my  library  and  as  a  sample  I  insert  these  few,  of  varied  form, 
to  show  how  the  subject  of  the  day  was  variously  treated.  The 
London  Illustrated N ews  of  April  16,  in  connection  with  a  two  page 
illustration  and  four  columns  of  descriptive  matter,  is  drawn  up- 
on for  the  following  extract :  — 

HOW  THE  PRESS  TREATED  ME. 

It  is  certainly  a  novel  idea  for  one  nation  to  give  an  Exhibition  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  its  own  frontier  history  or  the  story  enacted  by  genuine  characters 
of  the  dangers  and  hardships  of  its  settlement  upon  the  soil  of  another  country 
three  thousand  miles  away.  Yet  this  is  exactly  what  the  Americans  will  do  this 
year  in  London,  and  it  is  an  idea  worthy  of  that  thorough-going  and  enterpris- 
ing people.  We  frankly  and  gladly  allow  that  there  is  a  natural  and  sentiment- 
al view  of  the  design  which  will  go  far  to  obtain  for  it  a  hearty  welcome  in 
England.  The  progress  of  the  United  States,  now  the  largest  community  of  the 
English  race  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  though  not  in  political  union  with  Great 
Britain,  yet  intimately  connected  with  us  by  social  sympathies,  by  a  common 
language  and  literature,  by  ancestral  traditions  and  many  centuries  of  a  com- 
mon history,  by  much  remaining  similarity  of  civil  institutions,  laws,  morals 
and  manners,  by  the  same  forms  of  religions,  by  the  same  attachment  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  order  and  freedom,  and  by  the  mutual  interchange  of  benefits  in  a  vast 
commerce  and  in  the  materials  and  sustenance  of  their  staple  industries,  is  a 
proper  subject  of  congratulation;  for  the  popular  mind,  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
does  not  regard,  and  will  never  be  taught  to  regard,  what  are  styled  "  Imperial" 
interests  — those  of  mere  political  dominion  —  as  equally  valuable  with  the  habits 
and  ideas  and  domestic  life  of  the  aggregate  of  human  families  belonging  to  our 
own  race.  The  greater  numerical  proportion  of  these,  already  exceeding  six- 
ty millions,  are  inhabitants  of  the  great  American  Republic,  while  the  English- 
speaking  subjects  of  Queen  Victoria  number  a  little  above  forty-five  millions, 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  719 

Including  those  in  Canada  and  Australasia  and  scattered  among  the  colonial  de. 
pendencies  of  this  realm.  It  would  be  unnatural  to  deny  ourselves  the  indul- 
gence of  a  just  gratification  ia  seeing  what  men  of  our  own  blood,  men  of  our 
own  mind  and  disposition,  in  all  essential  respects,  though  tempered  and 
sharpened  by  more  stimulating  conditions,  with  some  wider  opportunities  for 
exertion,  have  achieved,  in  raising  a  wonderful  fabric  of  modern  civilization, 
and  bringing  it  to  the  highest  prosperity,  across  the  whole  breadth  of  the 
Western  Continent,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  We  feel  sure  that 
this  sentiment  will  prevail  in  the  hearts  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  visitors  to 
Buffalo  Bill's  American  camp,  about  to  be  opened  at  the  West  End  of  London ; 
and  we  take  it  kindly  of  the  great  kindred  people  of  the  United  States,  that 
they  now  send  such  a  magnificent  representation  to  the  Motherland,  determined 
to  take  some  part  in  celebrating  the  Jubilee  of  her  Majesty  the  Queen,  who  is 
the  political  representative  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

The  tone  of  this  article  strikes  the  same  chord,  I  may  say,  as 
the  whole  of  the  comments  of  the  English  press.  It  divested 
the  Wild  West  of  its  attributes  as  an  entertainment  simply,  and 
treated  our  visit  as  an  event  of  first  class  international  import- 
ance, and  a  link  between  the  affections  of  the  two  kindred  na- 
tions, such  as  had  never  before  been  forged.  Following  it  came 
a  very  flattering  description  of  the  site  of  our  operations :  — 

"  A  large  covered  bridge,  crossing  the  railway,  leads  eastward  to  the  grounds 
near  Earl's  Court  Station,  where  will  be  located  *  Buffalo  Bill's  '  Wild  West  Ex- 
hibition.  The  preparations  for  the  reception  of  this  unique  entertainment  have 
been  very  extensive ;  they  were  made  under  the  supervision  of  Major  J.  M. 
Burke,  the  general  manager  of  the  'Wild  West.'  The  track  is  over  one-third 
of  a  mile  in  circumference,  and  within  this  is  the  arena.  It  is  flanked  by  a  grand 
stand  filled  with  seats  and  boxes,  which  will  accommodate  twenty  thousand 
persons.  Standing  room  under  shelter  is  provided  for  over  ten  thousand  more, 
and  this,  with  the  spectators  in  the  open,  will  give  a  good  view  of  the  entertain- 
ment to  about  forty  thousand  people.  A  large  hill  has  been  thrown  up  of  earth 
and  rocks;  and  on  this,  amidst  a  grove  of  newly-planted  trees,  will  be  the  en- 
campment of  the  Indians,  the  *  cowboys,'  and  scouts.  At  the  other  side  of 
the  grounds  are  extensive  stables  for  the  broncho  horses  and  mules,  and  a  corral 
for  the  buffaloes,  antelopes,  elk,  and  other  wild  animals.  This  remarkable  ex- 
hibition, the  <  Wild  West,'  has  created  a  furore  in  America,  and  the  reason  is 
easy  to  understand.  It  is  not  a  circus,  nor  indeed  is  it  acting  at  all,  in  a  theat- 
rical sense;  but  an  exact  reproduction  of  daily  scenes  in  frontier  life,  as  ex- 
perienced and  enacted  by  the  very  people  who  now  form  the '  Wild  West ' 
company.  It  comprises  Indian  life,  *  cowboy '  life,  Indian  fighting,  and 
burning  Indian  villages,  lassoing  and  breaking  in  wild  horses,  shooting,  feats  of 
strength,  and  border  athletic  games  and  sports.  It  could  only  be  possible  for 
such  a  remarkable  undertaking  to  be  carried  out  by  a  remarkable  man :  and  the 
Hon.  W.  F.  Cody,  known  as  *  Buffalo  Bill,'  guide,  scout,  hunter,  trapper,  In- 


Y20 


STORY    OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 


dian  fighter,  and  legislator,  is  a  remarkable  man.  He  is  a  perfect  horseman,  an 
unerring  shot,  a  man  of  magnificent  presence  and  physique,  ignorant  of  the 
meaning  of  fear  or  fatigue ;  his  life  is  a  history  of  hairbreadth  escapes,  and 

deeds  of  daring, 
generosity,  and 
self-sacrifice, 
which  compare 
very  favorably 
with  the  chival- 
ric  actions  of 
romance,  and  he 
has  been  not 
inappropriately 
designated  the 
'  Bayard  of  the 
Plains.'  " 

It     may 
seem  a  little 
j  egotistical  to 
I  present    this 
j  last  sentence 
j  to  the   read- 
\  er's     notice, 
'but  as  I  am 
free   to  con- 
fess pleasure 
at  the  gener- 
ous   allusion 
to   my  coun- 
try and  my- 
self,   I     feel 
the     reader 
will 

me,  if  the 
result  to  him 
or  her  should 

SCENES    IN    THE    WILD    WLST    SHOW.  r         ^Q    gm]^_ 

ing  of  any  fragment  of  thoughtless  prejudice  and  the  building  up  of 
a  feeling  of  reciprocal  appreciation.  Personally,  I  feel  of  course. 


forgive 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


721 


that  I  was  simply  the  accidental  opportunity  for  the  expression 
of  latent  kindly  feeling  from  the  sons  of  our  ancestors  —  politi- 
cal countrymen.  The  journals  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in 
varied  expressions  of  cordial  welcome,  which  took  the  form  of 
lengthy  eulogy,  pictorial  and  editorial  description,  comic  and 
poetic  effusions,  as  vide  the  following  excerpts.  Here  speaks 
the  fieferee:  — 

THE  POETIC  MUSE  IS  EVOKED 


BUFFALO  BILL. 


South  Kensington's  lustre  is  waning, 

The  Westminster  fun's  getting  stale; 
The  star  of  the  Battenbergs'  setting, 

The  Parnellite  comet  grows  pale. 
The  Crawford -Dilke  scandal's  forgotten, 

The  Law  Court  sensations  are  nil ; 
Society  needs  a  new  tonic,— 

So  come  along,  Buffalo  Bill. 

We  hear  that  the  cowboys  are  wonders, 

And  do  what  no  rough-rider  dare, 
So  wherever  the  "  pitch  "  is  in  London 

Its  wild  horses  will  drag  us  there. 
O,  fancy  the  scene  of  excitement  1 

O,  fancy  five  acres  of  thrill, 
The  cowboys  and  Injuns  and  horses, 

And  the  far-famed  Buffalo  Bill! 


They  say  he's  a  darling,  a  hero, 

A  truly  magnificent  man, 
With  hair  that  falls  over  his  shoulders, 

And  a  face  that's  a  picture  to  scan ; 
And  then  he's  so  strong  and  so  daring, 

Yet  gentle  and  nice  with  it  still  — 
Only  fancy  if  all  the  young  ladies 

Go  mashed  upon  Buffalo  Bill ! 

The  world  is  a  wearisome  desert, 

The  life  that  we  live  is  a  bore ; 
The  cheek  of  the  apple  is  rosy, 

But  the  canker-worm  hides  in  the  core, 
Our  hearts  have  a  void  that  is  aching  — 

That  void,  then,  O,  hasten  to  fill 
With  your  mustangs  and  Injuns  and  cow- 
boys, 

And  yourself,  O  great  Buffalo  Bill ! 


Punch  appeared  with  your  humble  servant  pictured  as  a  cen- 
taur, with  bull- whip  and  revolver,  and  the  annexed  stanzas:  — 


THE  COMING  CENTAUR. 


Midst  cheering  tremendous, 

O'er  valley  and  hill  — 

A  marvel  stupendous 

Of  courage  and  skill  — 

He's  quickly  advancing, 

With  singing  and  dancing 

That  Centaur  Heroic  called  Buffalo  Bill. 

Soon  he'll  cross  the  Atlantic, 
In  quest  of  new  game, 
With  horses  half  frantic 
And  riders  the  same: 
A  novel  sensation 
He'll  make  in  this  nation  — 
So   cheers    half    a    hundred    for    Buffalo 
Bill! 


With  horsemanship  daring 
Our  sight  will  be  blest; 
All  the  town  will  be  staring 
At  sports  of  the  West. 
His  American  cowboys 
Will  kick  up  a  row  boys, 
Such  as  London  will  witness  with  rapturous 
zest. 

This  Centaur  Heroic 
Would  gladden  a  Stoic, 
So  droll  is  his  humor,  so  curious  his  skill. 
We'll  get  something  sunny 
And  fresh  for  our  money  — 
Hip!  hip!   hip!   hooray!    then,  for  Buffalo 
Bill. 


46 


722  STORT   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


TISIT  OF  VR,  GLADSTONE PRIVATE  VIEW  BY  THE  GRAND  OLD  MAN. 

We  "were  yet  in  the  throes  of  our  extensive  preparations,  and 
the  backward  English  spring  was  getting  in  its  work  with  a  sad- 
denmg,  soddering  supply  of  surplus  fresh  water,  when  I  received 
intimation  that  the  ex-Premier,  the  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone, 
M.  P.,  intended  to  honor  the  Wild  West  with  a  preliminary  call. 
This  visit  was  fixed  for  the  25th  of  April,  and  although  worried 
almost  to  death  with  the  exertions  connected  with  "  rounding  up," 
I  determined  to  make  the  veteran  statesman's  call  as  pleasant  as 
possible,  although,  as  the  track  was  not  completed,  a  full  show 
could  not  be  given.  Shortly  after  one  o'clock  p.  m.  he  arrived 
at  Earl's  Court  with  Mrs.  Gladstone,  and  entered  the  grounds  in 
company  with  the  Marquis  of  Lome  (husband  of  the  Princess 
Louise),  attended  by  Lord  Ronald  Gower,  Mr.  Waller  (Consul 
General  of  the  United  States),  and  a  distinguished  party,  escorted 
by  Nate  Salsbury .  The  Cowboy  band  welcomed  the  visitors  with 
the  strains  of  "  Yankee  Doodle,"  and  I  presently  had  the  pleasure 
of  shaking  hands  with  and  introducing  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gladstone 
to  the  denizens  of  our  encampment.  The  fine  old  statesman,  look- 
ing like  intellect  personified,  glanced  around  him  with  an  amused 
expression  as  the  savage  Indians  came  flocking  out  with  their 
characteristic  cries  of  "  ugh,  ugh  "  and  engaged  at  once  in  con- 
versation with  Red  Shirt.  I  explained  to  the  gallant  Sioux  war- 
rior that  Mr.  Gladstone  was  one  of  the  great  white  chiefs  of 
England,  and  they  were  soon  on  excellent  terms.  The  ex-Premier 
puzzled  him  exceedingly,  however,  by  inquiring,  through  our  in- 
terpreter, if  he  thought  the  Englishman  looked  enough  like  the 
Americans  to  make  him  think  they  were  kinsmen  and  brothers. 
Red  Shirt  set  us  all  laughing  by  replying  that  "  he  wasn't  quite 
sure  about  that."  It  was  clear  that  the  red  man  hadn't  studied 
the  art  of  compliment  to  any  great  extent,  but  the  incident  passed 
off  good  humoredly  enough  and  the  party  left  the  camp  for  the 
grand  stand.  Their  astonishment,  when  the  Indians  in  full  war 
paint,  riding  their  swift  horses,  dashed  into  the  arena  from  an 
ambuscade,  knew  no  bounds,  and  the  enthusiasm  grew,  as  placing 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


723 


myself  at  the  head  of  the  whole  body,  I  wheeled  them  into  line 
for  a  general  salute.  Then  the  lasso,  our  feats  of  shooting,  and 
the  bucking  horses  were  introduced,  and  it  was  a  real  treat  to  see 
the  evergreen  ex-Premier  enjoying  himself  like  a  veritable  school- 
boy, as  the  American  cowboys  tackled  the  incorrigible  buck- 
ing horses, 
some  times 
cheering 
the  animal, 
sometimes 
the  man. 
At  the  finish 
he  assured 
me  he  could  g 
have  c  o  n  - 1 
ceived  no-M 
thing  more  ^ 
interest  ingw 
or  amusing,  g 
A  luncheon^ 
followed 
the  exhibi-  § 
tion  build-  § 
ing  at  which 
I  sat  beside 
Mrs.  Glad- 
stone. The 
Grand  Old 
Man  spoke 
in  warm  and 
a  ff  e  c  t  i  n  g 

terms  of  the  instrumental  good  work  we  had  come  to  do.  He 
proposed  "  success  to  the  Wild  West  Show  "  in  a  brilliant  little 
speech  which  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  all  present.  He  was 
highly  complimentary  to  America  and  dwelt  upon  the  great  deeds 
of  its  western  pioneers  in  a  glowing  peroration,  and  on  subsequent 


ml 


724  STORY  OF  T^HE  WILD  WEST. 

occasions,  when  we  met,  his  demeanor  was  such  that  I  could 
quite  understand  the  fascination  he  exercises  over  the  masses  of 
his  countrymen.  His  is  a  singularly  attractive  personality  and 
his  voice  is  cither  a  balm  to  comfort  or  a  living  sword,  two-edged 
and  fire  tipped,  for  the  oratorical  combat  as  occasion  may  demand. 
Consul-General  Thos.  Waller  responded  effusively  and  I  began 
to  feel  that  I  was  really  becoming  a  factor,  in  my  humble  way, 
In  the  great  task  of  cementing  an  international  good  feeling. 

A   HARD-WORKED    LION   OF   THE    SEASON. 

Then  commenced  a  long  series  of  invitations  to  breakfasts, 
dinners,  luncheons,  and  midnight  lay-outs,  garden  parties  and  all 
the  other  attentions  by  which  London  society  delights  to  honor 
what  it  is  pleased  to  call  the  distinguished  foreigner.  I  began  to 
feel  that  life  is  indeed  sometimes  too  short  to  contain  all  the  gay- 
ety  that  people  would  fain  compress  into  its  narrow  limits.  A 
reference  to  my  diary  shows  that  amongst  other  receptions  I 
visited  and  was  made  an  honorary  member  of  most  of  the  best 
clubs.  Notably  the  Reform  Club,  where  I  met  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  and  a  coterie  of  prominent  gentle- 
men. Then  came  a  civic  lunch  at  the  Mansion  House  with  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  Lady  Mayoress;  a  dinner  at  the  Beaufort  Club, 
where  that  fine  sportsman,  the  Duke  of  Beaufort,  took  the  chair; 
and  a  memorable  evening  at  the  Savage  Club,  with  Mr.  Wilson 
Barrett  (just  back  from  America)  presiding,  and  an  attendance 
comprising  such  great  spirits  as  Mr.  Henry  Irving,  John  L. 
Toole,  and  all  that  is  great  in  literary,  artistic  and  histrionic  Lon- 
don; at  the  United  Arts  Club  I  was  entertained  by  the  Duke  of 
Teck ;  and  atthe  St .  George' s  Club,  by  Lord  Bruce,  Lord  Woolmex, 
Lord  Lymington,  Mr.  Christopher  Sykes,  Mr.  Herbert  Glad- 
stone and  others ;  subsequently  I  dined  at  Mr.  Irving' s,  Lady 
McGregor's,  LadyTenterden's,  Mrs.  Chas.  Matthews,  (widow  of 
the  great  actor),  Mrs.  J.  W.  Mackay's,  Lord  Randolph  and  Lady 
Churchill's,  Edmund  Yates' ,  and  at  Great  Mario w ;  also  with  Mrs. 
Courtland  Palmer ,'U.  S.  Minister  Phelps,  and  again  at  the  Savage 
Club  with  Go  v.  Thos.  Waller.  Then  came  invites  from  Mrs.  J.  Tan- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  725 

dell  Phillips,  the  Hon.  Cecil  and  Mrs.  Donovan,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Brandon;  from  Chas.  Wyndham,  at  the  Criterion;  from  Mr- 
Lawson,  of  the  Daily  Telegraph,  to  meet  the  Duke  of  Cambridge. 
I  was  dined  also  at  Lady  Monckton's,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Oscar  Wilde's  ; 
the  Burlingham  Club,  Mme.  Minnie  Haukde  Wartegg's,  Lady  Ar- 
delsun's,  Miss  Mary  Anderson's,  an  enthusiastic  Wild  Wester,  Em- 
ma Nevada  Palmer's,  and  at  Mrs.  Brown  Potter's,  who  was  very 
active  in  personal  interest.  I  visited  Mr.  Henry  Labouchere  on 
the  occasion  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Labouchere  gave  their  grand 
garden  production  of  "  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream."  Then  I 
remember  riding  in  great  style  with  Lord  Chas.  Beresfordin  the 
Coaching  Club  parade  in  Hyde  Park,  and  received  an  invitation 
to  a  mount  with  the  Hon.  Artillery  Co.  of  London  (the  oldest 
volunteer  in  the  kingdom ) ,  in  the  parade  in  honor  of  Her  Maj- 
esty's the  Queen's  birthday.  This  last,  business  prevented  my 
accepting.  These  are  but  a  few  among  the  many  social  courte- 
sies extended  to  me,  all  of  which  I  shall  forever  appreciate  and 
remember  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  But  I  must  say  that,  con- 
sidering my  pre-occupation  with  our  preliminary  arrangements, 
and  the  social  demands  made  upon  my  time,  it  is  now  a  wonder 
to  myself  how  I  succeeded  in  forming  so  good  an  exhibition  at 
the  opening  day.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Indians 
were  all  new  from  the  Pine  Ridge  Agency,  and  had  never  seen 
the  exhibition,  and  that  a  hundred  of  the  ponies  came  direct 
from  the  plains  of  Texas  and  had  never  been  ridden  or  shot 
over. 

VISIT    OF   THE   PRINCE   AND    PRINCESS    OF   WALES. 

Amidst  all  of  this  fashionable  hurly-burly,  I  was  extremely 
gratified  to  receive  the  following  letter:  — 

MARLBOROUGH  HOUSE,  ) 

PALL  MALL,  S.  W.,  26  April,  1887.  £ 

DEAR  SIR:  I  am  desired  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  thank  you 
for  your  invitation.  His  Royal  Highness  is  anxious  I  should  see 
you  with  reference  to  it.  Perhaps,  therefore,  you  would  kindly 
make  it  convenient  to  call  at  Marlborough  House. 


726  STORY   OF   THE    WILD*  WEST. 

Would  it  suit  you  to  call  at  11 :  30  or  5  o'clock,  either  to  mor- 
row (Wednesday)  or  Thursday?    I  am,  dear  sir. 
Yours  faithfully, 

(Signed)     FRANCIS  KNOLLYS, 

Private  Secretary. 

This  resulted  in  an  arrangement  to  give  a  special  performance 
for  H.  R.  H.  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  although  every- 
thing was  still  incomplete,  the  track  unfinished,  spoiled  by  rainy 
weather  and  the  hauling  on  of  vast  timbers.  The  ground  was  in 
unspeakably  bad  condition. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  being  busily  occupied  in  arranging  mat- 
ters for  the  Queen's  Jubilee,  had  but  limited  latitude  as  regard 
to  time.  '  But  for  all  this  I  determined  to  pull  through,  as  the 
Wild  West  always  suited  me  the  more  raw  and  wild  it  was.  1 
retired  the  night  previous  to  the  visit  fatigued  to  be  sure,  but 
with  a  hunter's  pleasant  reflections  after  striking  a  country 
where  water  is  plenty  and  grazing  good,  two  circumstances  that 
always  bring  the  weary  pioneer  renewed  confidence  and  repose. 

A  PRIVATE  ENTERTAINMENT  FOR  THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES. 

The  entertainment  was  of  course  to  be  an  exclusive  one,  con- 
fined entirely  to  the  royal  party,  as  it  yet  wanted  several  days  to 
an  opening  date.  I  had  got  the  royal  box  handsomely  rigged  out 
with  American  and  English  flags,  and  my  object  was  to  make  use 
of  the  occasion  as  a  further  rehearsal  of  the  whole  entertainment. 
The  party  that  was  conducted  into  our  precincts  was  a  strong  one 
numerically  aswell  as  in  point  of  exalted  rank:  The  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales,  with  their  three  daughters,  Princesses  Louise, 
Victoria  and  Maud,  led  the  way;  then  came  the  Princess  Louise 
and  her  husband,  the  Marquis  of  Lome;  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  ; 
H.  S.  H.  of  Teck  and  his  son;  theComtesse  de  Paris;  the  Crown 
Prince  of  Denmark  ;  followed  by  Lady  Suffield  and  Miss  Knollys, 
Lady  Cole,  Colonel  Clarke,  Lord  Edward  Somerset  and  other 
high  placed  attendants  on  the  assembled  royalties.  The  Prince 
of  Wales  introduced  me  to  the  Princess,  and  introductions  to  the 
other  exalted  personages  followed,  in  which  Nate  Salsbury  and 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL. 


727 


Major  John  Burke  were  included.  His  Royal  Highness  is  under 
the  medium  height  and  rather  inclined  to  corpulency.  In  man- 
ners mixed  with  that  indescribable  high  bearing  which  comes 
from  constant  association  with  state  ceremonial,  he  is  just  the 
beau  ideal  of  a  plain-spoken,  pleasant,  kindly  gentleman.  He 
takes  the  universal  homage  as  a  matter  of  course ;  but  never  acts 
as  though  he  would  exact  it.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him 
many  times  subsequently,  and  found  less  pride  in  him  than  I 
have  experienced  in  third-rate  civic  officials  elsewhere.  Before 
I  left  London  he  presented  me  with  a  very  handsome  diamond 


W£r— * 


copy  of  his  crest  —  the -three  ostrich  feathers  —  mounted  in 
gems  and  gold  as  a  breast-pin.  But  of  that  more  anon.  The 
Princess  of  Wales  is  a  quiet,  self-possessed,  gentle  lady,  much 
given  to  innocent  merriment,  and  still  speaking  English  with  a 
slightly-clipped  foreign  accent.  My  knowledge  of  the  state  of 
the  arena  and  the  nervous  feeling  inseparable  from  a  first  per- 
formance made  me  anything  but  comfortable  as  I  conducted  my 
guests  in  their  boxes,  and  left  them  in  charge  of  Major  Burkeand 
Mr.  Frank  Richmond,  who  had  the  task  of  explaining  the  various 
acts  in  the  performance.  However,  we  were  in  for  it  and  were 


728  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

bound  to  pull  through,  and  my  fears  of  a  mishap  were  dispelled 
from  the  moment  the  Prince  gave  the  signal,  and  the  Indians, 
yelling  like  fiends,  galloped  out  from  their  ambuscade  and  swept 
round  the  enclosure  like  a  whirlwind.  The  effect  was  instanta- 
neous .and  electric.  The  Prince  rose  from  his  seat  and  leaned 
eagerly  over  the  front  of  the  box,  and  the  whole  party  seemed 
thrilled  at  the  spectacle.  "  Cody,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  you  have 
fetched  em  ! ' '  From  that  moment  we  were  right  —  right  from 
the  word  "  Go."  Everybody  was  in  capital  form  —  myself 
included — and  the  whole  thing  went  off  grandly.  Our  lady 
shots,  on  being  presented  at  the  finish,  committed  the  small  sole- 
cism of  offering  to  shake  hands  with  the  Princess;  for  be  it 
known  that  feminine  royalty  offers  the  hand  back  uppermost, 
which  the  person  presented  is  expected  to  reverently  lift  with  the 
finger  tips  and  to  salute  with  the  lips.  However,  the  Princess 
got  over  the  difficulty  by  taking  their  proffered  hands  and  shaking 
them  heartily. 

Then  came  an  inspection  of  Indian  camp,  and  a  talk  between 
the  Prince  and  Red  Shirt.  His  Royal  Highness  expressed 
through  the  interpreter  his  great  delight  at  what  he  had  seen, 
and  the  Princess  personally  offered  him  a  welcome  to  England. 
"  Tell  the  Great  Chief's  wife,"  said  Red  Shirt  with  much  dig- 
nity, "  that  it  gladdens  my  heart  to  hear  her  words  of  welcome." 
The  Royal  party  cottoned  greatly  to  John  Nelson's  half-breed 
papoose,  and  while  the  ladies  of  the  suite  were  petting  the  baby  the 
Prince  honored  my  headquarters  tent  with  a  visit  and  seemed 
much  interested  in  the  gold-mounted  sword  presented  to  me  by 
the  generals  of  the  United  States  Army  with  whom  I  have  served 
in  the  boisterous  years  that  are  never  to  return. 

The  Prince  of  Wales  is  an  earnest  sportsman  and  a  bold  rider 
to  hounds.  That  I  knew,  but  I  was  a  little  surprised  when,  in 
spite  of  the  muddy  state  of  the  ground,  he  and  his  party  deter- 
mined to  make  an  inspection  of  the  stables  where  our  200 
broncho  horses  and  other  animals  were  quartered.  I  never 
felt  prouder  of  the  military  method  that  pervades  our  equine 
arrangements  than  during  this  visit,  which  was  sprung  upon  me 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


729 


quite  as  a  surprise.     All  was  in  apple-pie  order  and  everybody 
seemed  exceedingly  pleased.     He  quite  won  my  heart  by  demand- 


AN   INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   PRINCE   AND   PRINCESS   OF   WALES. 

ing  the  full,  true  and  particular  history  of  Old  Charlie,  now  in 
his  twenty-first  year,  who  carried  me  through  so  much  arduous 


730  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

work  in  the  plains,  and  who  once  bore  me  over  a  flight  of  100 
miles  in  nine  hours  and  forty  minutes  when  chased  by  hostile 
Indians.  Charlie  may  not  have  felt  the  compliment,  but  I  ap- 
preciated it  keenly. 

And  so  at  seven  o'clock  our  royal  visit  and  our  first  full  per- 
formance in  England  terminated  by  the  prince  presenting  the 
contents  of  his  cigarette  case  to  Red  Shirt.  The  rehearsal  had  been 
a  triumphant  success  and  we  had  earned  the  approval  of  the  first 
gentleman  in  the  land.  It  may  be  imagined  how  heartily  Nate 
Salsbury,  Major  Burke,  and  I  congratulated  each  other  on  this 
auspicious  issue  of  a  big  occasion. 

A  walk  round  the  principal  streets  of  London  at  this  time  would 
have  shown  how  by  anticipation  the  Wild  West  had  ' '  caught  on' ' 
to  the  popular  imagination.  The  windows  of  the  London  book- 
seller were  full  of  editions  of  Fenmmore  Cooper's  novels,  "  The 
Path-Finder,"  "  The  Deer  Stalker,"  "  The  Last  of  the  Mohic- 
ans," "  Leather  Stocking,"  and  in  short,  all  that  series  of  de- 
lightful romances  which  have  placed  the  name  of  the  American 
novelist  on  the  same  level  with  tha£  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  It  was 
a  real  revival  of  trade  for  the  booksellers,  who  sold  thousands 
of  volumes  of  Cooper  where  twenty  years  before  they  had  sold 
them  in  dozens.  I  am  convinced — and  I  say  it  in  no  boastful 
spirit,  but  as  a  plain  statement  of  fact  —  that  our  visit  to  England 
has  set  the  population  of  the  British  Islands  reading,  thinking, 
and  talking  about  their  American  kinsmen  to  an  extent  before 
unprecedented.  They  are  beginning  to  know  more  of  the  mighty 
nation  beyond  the  Atlantic  and  consequently  to  esteem  us  better 
than  at  any  time  within  the  limits  of  modern  history.  I  am  proud 
of  my  small  share  in  this  desirable  state  of  things,  which  will  be 
a  source  of  comfort  to  me  to  my  dying  day. 

OUR    OPENING   PERFORMANCE. 

A  glorious  change  in  the  weather.  Sunny  skies  and  balmy 
breezes  ushered  in  the  morning  of  May  9,  and  the  stars  and  stripes 
fluttered  and  glittered  above  us  in  the  warm,  soft  air  as  if  rejoicing 
in  the  good  fortune  that  was  to  come.  The  happy  omen  was 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  731 

realized  in  the  shape  of  a  bumper  attendance.  The  moment  the 
doors  were  opened  there  was  a  great  rush  of  the  populace,  and  our 
money-takers  had  all  their  work  cut  out,  "  with  both  hands," 
to  relieve  the  bustling  perspiring  crowd  of  the  harmless  necessary 
shillings  that  flowed  in  silver  streams  into  our  coffers.  It  was 
a  thoroughly  representative  audience,  fashionable  and  otherwise, 
in  which  all  ranks  were  included ;  and  if  I  had  felt  slightly  ner- 
vous in  the  presence  of  royalty,  I  experienced  a  sensation  of  real 
stage  fright  on  gating  at  the  vast  sea  of  faces  that  confronted  us 
from  every  available  quarter  when  we  made  our  first  bow  to  the 
British  public.  A  cutting  from  an  influential  London  paper  may 
be  allowed  to  describe  the  scene : 

THE    WILD    WEST    SHOW. 

As  we  took  our  places  in  one  of  the  little  boxes  which  edge  the  arena 
in  the  grounds  of  the  American  Exhibition  where  Buffalo  Bill's  Wild  West  Show 
is  given,  we  could  not  help  being  struck  with  the  effectiveness  of  the  scene  before 
us.  The  size  of  the  enclosure  was  one  element  of  the  impressiveness  of  the  coup 
d'ceil  and  this  was  cleverly  increased  by  the  picturesque  scenery  which  inclosed 
half  of  the  circle.  At  the  edge  of  the  ash-covered  circle  in  the  center  were 
drawn  up  on  parade  the  whole  strength  of  the  Wild  West  company.  There  were 
the  various  tribes  of  Indians  in  their  war-paint  and  feathers,  the  Mexicans,  the 
ladies,  and  the  cowboys,  and  a  fine  array  they  made,  with  the  chiefs  of  each 
tribe,  the  renowned  Sergeant  Bates,  the  equally  celebrated  Buffalo  Bill,  the 
stalwart  Buck  Taylor,  and  others  who  were  introduced  by  Mr.  Frank  Richmond 
who,  from  the  top  of  an  elevated  platform,  described  the  show  as  it  proceeded. 
The  post  of  lecturer  is  no  sinecure  when  such  a  vast  area  has  to  be  filled  by 
the  voice  of  the  speaker;  but  Mr.  Richmond  made  every  sentence  distinctly 
heard,  and  the  interesting  information  conveyed  by  him  in  a  mellow 
and  decidedly  audible  voice  was  one  of  the  most  agreeable  features  of 
the  performance.  Few,  perhaps,  of  the  audience  would  have  remembered, 
without  the  notification  of  the  lecturer,  the  history  of  the  pony  express,  one 
of  the  most  romantic  in  the  annals  of  intercommunication,  or  nave  enjoyed 
fully  the  exposition  by  one  of  the  leading  cow-boys  of  the  way  in 
which  the  mails  were  carried.  The  emigrant  train,  which  next  wended 
its  way  across  the  arena  with  its  teams  of  oxen  and  mules,  its  ancient 
wagons,  and  their  burden  of  families  and  household  goods,  to  be  attacked  by 
a  tribe  of  redskins,  who  were  soon  repulsed  by  the  ever  ready  cow-boys,  was 
an  equally  interesting  resurrection  of  a  method  of  peopling  the  soil  practiced 
even  now  in  the  remoter  regions  of  the  West,  though  the  redskins,  we  believe, 
are  pretty  well  confined  nowadays  to  the  Indian  territory,  and  are  reduced  to, 
at  least,  an  outward  "friendliness."  The  next  sensation  was  created  by  Miss 
Lillian  Smith,  "the  California  girl,"  whose  forte  is  shooting  at  a  swinging 


732 


STORY    OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 


target.  She  complicates  her  feats  by  adding  all  kinds  of  difficulties  to  her  aim, 
and  her  crowning  achievements  of  smashing  a  glass  ball  made  to  revolve  hori- 
zontally at  great  speed  and  clearing  off  ball  after  ball  on  the  target  just  men- 


BUCK   TAYLOR    RIDING    AN   ERUPTIVE    MUSTANG. 

tioned  to  the  number  of  twenty  were  really  marvelous  The  part  of  1** 
entertainment  most  novel  to  Londoners  was  undoubtedly  tne  riding  of  cb< 
"  bucking  "  horses.  As  Mr.  Richmond  explained,  no  cruelty  is  used  to  make 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  733 

these  animals  "buck."  It  is  simply  "  a  way  they've  got.1'  The  horses  are 
saddled  coram  publico,  and  the  ingenious  manreuvres  by  means  of  which  this  is 
accomplished  were  extremely  interesting  to  observe.  Some  escaped  altogether 
from  their  masters,  and  had  to  be  pursued  and  lassoed ;  others  had  to  bo 
thrown  down  in  order  that  they  might  be  mounted.  When  the  cowboys  were 
in  the  saddle  came  the  tug  of  war.  There  were  various  degrees  of  violence  in 
the  leaps  and  springs  of  the  animals,  but  the  mildest  of  them  would  have  thrown 
even  a  moderately  good  rider  to  the  ground  in  a  moment.  The  "  ugliest"  of 
the  lot  seemed  to  be  that  bestridden  at  the  conclusion  of  this  part  of  the  show 
by  Antonio  Esquival,  but  those  mounted  by  Jim  Kidd,  Buck  Taylor,  Dick 
Johnson,  Mitchell,  and  Webb  were  all  "  customers "  of  the  "awkwardest" 
description,  and  showed  what  a  rebellious  demon  there  is  in  a  half-broken  horse 
who  has  lost  his  fear  of  man.  There  was  enmity,  savage  or  sullen,  in  every 
attitude  and  in  every  movement  of  these  creatures.  The  bucking  horses 
should  be  seen  by  everyone  in  London  who  takes  an  interest  in  the  "  noble 
animal."  The  attack  on  the  Deadwood  stage  coach,  which  is  a  cele- 
brated item  of  the  show,  was  a  very  effective  spectacle,  and  in  this, 
as  in  an  attack  on  a  settler's  homestead,  there  was  a  great  amount 
of  powder  burnt.  Mustang  Jack  performed  the  startling  feat  of  clearing  a 
horse  sixteen  hands  high,  having  previously  covered  thirteen  feet  with  a  stand- 
ing leap.  He  is,  without  doubt,  an  extraordinary  jumper.  Buffalo  Bill's  spec- 
ialty is  shooting  whilst  riding  at  full  gallop,  and  he  does  this  to  wonderful 
perfection.  He  is  accompanied  by  an  Indian,  bearing  a  basket  full  of  glass  balls, 
which  he  throws  high  into  the  air,  and  Mr.  Cody  smashes  each  with  unerring  aim 
whilst  both  horses  are  going  at  a  hard  gallop.  The  buffalo  hunt  was  immensely 
realistic.  There  was  also  some  interesting  feats,  riding  by  two  ladies  and 
several  short  races  between  them,  and  also  between  Indian  boys  mounted  on 
mustang  ponies.  Summing  up  the  Wild  Westshow  from  an  English  and  the- 
atrical point  of  view,  we  should  say  that  it  is  certain  to  draw  thousands  from 
its  remarkably  novel  nature.  We  would  also  suggest  for  consideration  the 
advantage  of  the  introduction  of  a  little  scalping.  Why  should  not  the  Indians 
overcome  a  party  of  scouts,  and  "raise  their  hair  ?"  Wigs  and  scalps  are  not 
very  expensive,  and  carmine  is  decidedly  cheap.  But  it  will  be  a  long  time 
before  public  curiosity  will  be  glutted,  and  until  then  "Buffalo  Bill"  may  be 
content  to  "let  her  rip,"  and  regard  with  complacency  the  golden  stream  that 
is  flowing  with  such  a  mighty  current  into  the  treasury  of  the  Wild  West  Show. 

INTEREST  WITHOUT    BLOODY  ACCESSORIES. 

The  drawback  to  the  exploiting  of  this  ingenious  idea  is  that  a 
display  of  sham  scalping  would  by  no  means  satisfy  gentlemen  of 
this  reporter's  gory  turn  of  mind.  Nothing  but  a  real  massacre, 
with  genuine  blood  flowing  and  a  comfortable  array  of  corpses  for 
view  would  suffice  to  glut  some  people's  appetite  for  a  nice, 
thrilling  sensation.  Perhaps  if  the  gentleman  had  ever  seen  the 


734  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

horrors  of  actual  warfare  with  red  Indians  he  would  not  be  so 
ealous  for  realism.  However,  he  meant  well,  and  his  pen  was 
but  one  amongst  the  hundreds  wielded  by  English  journalists 
who  shed  ink  in  kindly  praise  of  our  endeavors  to  amuse  and  in- 
struct the  London  public.  Another  critic,  he  of  the  Sporting 
Life,  concludes  a  whimsical  notice  in  laudatory  terms  thus  :  — 

The  opening  of  the  Wild  West  Show  was  one  of  the  most  signal  successes  of 
recent  years.  Such  a  vast  concourse  of  the  cream  — or  it  may  be  as  well  to  say 
the  creme  de  la  creme  —  of  society  is  seldom  seen  at  any  performance.  The  number 
of  chariots  waiting  at  the  gates  outnumbered  those  of  Pharaoh,  and  the  phalanx 
of  footmen  constituted  quite  a  small  army.  There  is  much  in  the  Wild  West 
show  to  please.  There  is  novelty  of  incident,  wonderful  tone,  color,  dexterous 
horsemanship,  and  a  breezy  independence  of  manner,  which  latter  quality,  by 
the  way,  is  not  entirely  conflnedjto  the  dramatis  personce.  It  is  new,  it  is  brill- 
iant, it  is  startling,  it  will  "go!" 

VISIT    OF    QUEEN   VICTORIA. 

66  By  command  of  Her  Majesty,  the  Queen  "  — it  must  be  un- 
derstood, that  the  Queen  never  requests,  desires,  or  invites,  even 
her  own  Prime  Minister  to  her  own  dinner-table,  but  "  com- 
mands ' '  invariably  —  a  special  performance  was  given  by  the 
i "Wild  West,  the  understanding  being  that  Her  Majesty  and  suite 
would  take  a  private  view  of  the  performance.  The  Queen,  ever 
since  the  death  of  her  husband,  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  has 
cherished  an  invincible  objection  to  appearing  before  great  as- 
semblages of  her  subjects.  She  visits  her  Parliament  seldom ; 
the  theaters  never.  Her  latest  knowledge  of  her  greatest  actors 
and  actresses  has  been  gained  from  private  performances  at 
"Windsor,  whither  they  have  been  "  commanded"  to  entertain 
her,  and  that  at  very  infrequent  intervals.  But  as  with  Ma- 
homet and  the  mountain,  the  Wild  West  was  altogether  too  col- 
ossal to  take  to  Windsor,  and  so  the  Queen  came  to  the  Wild 
West  —  an  honor  of  which  I  was  the  more  deeply  sensible  on  ac- 
count of  its  unique  and  unexampled  character.  I  am  bound  to 
say  that  the  whole  troupe,  myself  included,  felt  highly  com- 
plimented ;  the  public  would  hardly  believe  it,  and  if  bets  had  been 
made  at  the  clubs,  the  odds  on  a  rank  outsider  in  the  Derby 
would  have  been  nothing  to  the  amount  that  would  have  been  bet 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL  735 

that  it  was  a  Yankee  hoax.  Her  Majesty  would  arrive,  I  waa  in- 
formed, at  five  o'clock,  and  would  require  to  see  everything  in 
an  hour.  A  soldier  is  frequently  ordered  to  accomplish  the  im- 
possible—  I  had  been  tolerably  used  to  that  sort  of  thing,  and 
have  knocked  the  impossible  stiff  and  cold  on  more  than  one  oc- 
casion; but  this  was  a  poser.  We  would  do  our  best  and  acquit 
ourselves  like  men  and  women  ;  and  that  was  all  that  could  be 
said  about  it.  We  erected  a  dais  for  Her  Majesty  and  had  a  box 
specially  constructed,  draped  with  crimson  velvet  and  decorated 
with  orchids,  leaving  plenty  of  accommodation  for  the  attendant 
notables.  All  was  made  as  bright  and  cheerful  as  possible,  and 
these  preparation's  completed  we  waited,  very  much  in  frame  of 
mind  like  a  lot  of  school  boys  attending  an  examination. 

HER    MAJESTY  SALUTES  THE  AMERICAN  FLAG. 

With  royal  punctuality  the  sovereign  lady  and  her  suite  rolled 
up  in  their  carriages,  drove  round  the  arena  in  state,  and  dis- 
mounted at  the  entrance  to  the  box.  The  august  company  in- 
cluded, besides  her  Majesty,  their  Royal  Highnesses  Prince  and 
Princess  Henry  of  Battenberg,  the  Marquis  of  Lome,  the  Dowa- 
ger Duchess  of  Athole  and  the  Hon.  Ethel  Cadogan,  Sir  Henry 
and  Lady  Ponsonby,  General  Lynedoch  Gardiner,  Colonel  Sir 
Henry  Ewart,  Lord  Ronald  Gower  and  a  collection  of  uniformed 
celebrities  and  brilliantly  attired  fair  ladies  who  formed  a  veri- 
table parterre  of  living  flowers  around  the  temporary  throne. 
During  our  introduction  a  very  notable  incident  occurred,  sufficient 
to  send  the  blood  surging  through  every  American's  veins  at  Ni- 
agara speed.  As  usual  in  our  entertainment,  the  American  flag, 
carried  by  a  graceful,  well-mounted  horseman,  was  introduced, 
with  the  statement  that  it  was  "  an  emblem  of  peace  and  friend- 
ship to  all  the  world."  As  the  standard-bearer  waved  the  proud 
emblem  above  his  head,  Her  Majesty  rose  from  her  seat  and 
bowed  deeply  and  impressively  towards  the  banner.  The  whole 
court  party  rose,  the  ladies  bowed,  the  generals  present  saluted, 
and  the  English  noblemen  took  off  their  hats.  Then — we 
couldn't  help  it —  but  there  arose  such  a  genuine  heart-stirring 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  737 

American  yell  from  our  company  as  seemed  to  shake  the  sky. 
It  was  a  great  event.  For  the  first  time  in  history,  since  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  a  sovereign  of  Great  Britain  had 
saluted  the  star  spangled  banner,  and  that  banner  was  carried  by 
a  member  of  Buffalo  Bill's  Wild  West!  All  present  were  con- 
strained to  feel  that  here  was  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  the 
extinction  of  that  mutual  prejudice,  sometimes  almost  amounting 
to  race  hatred,  that  has  severed  the  two  nations  from  the  times 
of  Washington  and  George  the  Third  to  the  present  day.  We 
felt  that  the  hatchet  was  buried  at  last  and  the  Wild  West  had 
been  at  the  funeral. 

PRESENTED    TO   THE  QUEEN. 

Under  the  stimulus  of  the  Queen's  presence,  the  performance 
was  admirably  given.  The  whole  company  seemed  infected  with 
a  determination  to  excel  themseives.  Personally  I  missed  not  a 
a  single  shot;  the  young  ladies  excelled  themselves  in  the  same 
line ;  the  charges  on  the  Indians  were  delivered  with  a  terrific  vim  ; 
and  the  very  bucking  horses  seemed  to  buck  like  steam-engines  under 
the  influence  of  that  half  minute  of  excitement.  But  perhaps 
this  last  may  have  been  fancy.  Better  than  all,  the  Queen  not 
only  abandoned  her  original  intention  of  remaining  to  see  only 
the  first  acts,  but  saw  the  whole  thing  through,  and  wound  up 
with  a  "  command  "  that  Buffalo  Bill  should  be  presented  to  her. 
Her  compliments,  deliberate  and  unmeasured,  modesty  forbids 
me  to  repeat. 

A  kindly  little  lady,  not  five  feet  in  height,  but  every  inch  a 
gracious  queen.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  presenting  Miss  Lilian 
Smith ,  the  mechanism  of  whose  Winchester  repeater  was  explained 
to  Her  Majesty,  who  takes  a  remarkable  interest  in  fire-arms. 
Young  California  spoke  up  gracefully  and  like  a  little  woman. 
Then  Nate  Salsbury  was  commanded  to  the  presence  and  intro- 
duced, and  took  his  blushing  honors  with  all  the  grace  of  the 
polished  American  gentleman  he  is.  Next  came  Red  Shirt,  gor- 
geous in  his  war-paint  and  most  splendiferous  feather  trappings. 
His  proud  bearing  seemed  to  fetch  the  royal  party  immensely, 

47 


738  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

and  when  he  quietly  declared  that  ' '  he  had  come  a  long  way  to 
see  Her  Majesty,  and  felt  glad,"  and  strolled  abruptly  away  with 
dignity  spread  all  over  him  three  inches  thick,  the  Queen  smiled 
appreciatively,  as  who  should  say,  "  I  know  a  real  Duke  when  I 
see  him."  Finally  two  squaws  were  summoned,  and  came  racing 
across  the  arena,  their  little  brown  papooses  slung  behind  them. 
Upon  these  royalty,  unbending,  "rained  gracious  influence." 
The  papooses  were  handed  up  for  inspection,  and  behaved  them- 
selves nicely  while  Her  Majesty  petted  them.  And  so  the  Queen's 
visit  came  to  an  end,  with  a  last  command,  expressed  through 
Sir  Henry  Ponsonby,  that  a  record  of  all  she  had  seen  should  be 
sent  on  to  Windsor.  A  great  occasion,  of  which  the  mental 
photograph  will  long  remain  with  me. 

STATESMEN   AT   THE   WILD   WEST. 

Of  the  statesmen  and  men  otherwise  eminent  who  visited  the 
Wild  West  in  these  bright  summer  days  —  it  was  a  wonderful 
summer  for  England  —  a  partial  list  will  be  found  elsewhere. 
One  of  the  earliest  was  John  Bright,  to  whose  honored  name  no 
Englishman  ever  thinks  of  tacking  the  "  Mister."     The  People's 
Tribune  met  with  an  unfortunate  accident  on  entering  the  show, 
reminding  one  of  William  the  Conqueror's  when  he  made  that 
awkward  stumble  on  Hasting' s  beach,  to  the  dismay  of  his  fol- 
lowers, who  thought  it  a  bad  omen,  and  rose  exclaiming:   "  Lo, 
here  have  I  already  seized  two  handf uls  of  this  English  earth ; 
let  us  go  on,  my  bully  boys,  and  rope  in  the  remainder."     That 
was  distinctly  clever.     John  Bright  tripped  over  the  rubber  mat 
at  my  tent  portal,  and  arose,  grasping,  not  the  English  earth, 
but  the  end  of  his  nose,  which  was  bleeding.     I  was  truly  dis- 
tressed at  this  awkward  fall  occurring  to  the  venerated  leader, 
and  made  him  as  comfortable  as  possible  in  my  tent  until  he  had 
got  over  the  shock.     Major  Burke  stood  by  with  much  heroism 
and  a  bottle  of  eau-de-cologne  and  bathed  the  afflicted  spot  until 
the  illustrious  patient  felt  all  right  and  able  to  go  to  his  seat. 
The  news  of  the  accident  had  spread  through  the  auditorium, 
and  when  the  «'  old  man  eloquent"  made  his  appearance  n  hi? 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  739 

box,  smiling  and  quite  chipper  again,  the-  packed  audience  gave 
him  three  mighty  cheers  that  made  him  laugh  some  more. 

Lord  Randolph  Churchill  had  heard  of  the  incident,  and  it  was 
quite  amusing  to  see  him  look  at  that  mat  next  time  he  came  to 
the  show,  gather  his  muscles  together,  and  deliberately  leap  over 
it.  A  born  humorist  is  his  lordship,  affectionately  dubbed 
"  Little  Randy  "  by  the  conservative  democracy,  principally  be- 
cause Mr.  Punch  delights  in  depicting  him  as  a  whipper-snapper. 
After  all  he  is  not  a  short  man,  either  in  stature  or  in  intellectual 
"  change."  He  is  a  right  smart  politician  and  one  of  the  pleas- 
antest  of  the  many  pleasant  English  gentlemen  it  has  been  my 
good  fortune  to  meet. 

A    RIB-ROAST    BREAKFAST,    A    LA    INDIAN,    TO    GEN.    CAMERON. 

While  receiving  generous  attention  from  the  most  prominent 
people  of  England,  I  was  by  no  means  neglected  by  my  own 
countrymen,  many  of  whom  were  frequent  visitors  to  the  Wild 
West  Show  and  who  otherwise  added,  by  their  presence  and 
influence,  much  to  the  popularity  of  the  show  and  myself  as 
well.  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  accompanied  by  his  family,  spent 
several  hours  with  me  in  my  tent  and  was  a  frequent  visitor  to 
the  show.  So,  also,  was  Hon.  Joseph  Pulitzer,  Chauncy  M. 
De  Pew,  Lawrence  Jerome,  Murat  Halstead,  General  Hawley, 
Simon  Cameron,  and  many  other  distinguished  Americans.  So 
many  prominent  Americans  of  my  acquaintance  were  in  London 
at  the  time,  that  Mr.  Salsbury  and  I  decided  to  give  several  of 
our  countrymen  a  novel  entertainment  that  would  serve  the 
double  purpose  of  regaling  their  appetites  while  affording  an 
illustration  of  the  wild  habits  of  many  Indian  tribes.  In  pur- 
suance of  our  resolve  we  invited  Gen.  Simon  Cameron  as  the 
specially  honored  guest  of  the  occasion,  and  about  one  hundred 
other  Americans,  including  in  the  list  all  of  those  named  above, 
to  a  Rib-roast  Breakfast,  which  was  to  be  prepared  by  the  Indians 
after  the  manner  of  their  cooking  when  in  their  native  habitat. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  all  the  invited  guests  responded 
to  the  summons  and  came  to  our  large  dining  tent  that  was 


740  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   "WEST. 

gorgeously  festooned  and  decorated  for  the  occasion.  Before 
the  tent  a  fire  had  been  made,  around  which  grouped  a  number  of 
Indian  cooks.  A  hole  had  been  dug  in  the  ground  and  in  this 
a  great  bed  of  coals  was  now  made,  over  which  was  set  a  wooden 
tripod  from  which  was  suspended  several  ribs  of  beef.  An 
Indian  noted  for  his  skill  as  a  rib-roaster  attended  to  the  cookino- 

O 

by  gently  moving  the  meat  over  the  hot  coals  for  nearly  half  an 
hour,  when  it  was  removed  to  the  quarters  and  there  jointed 
ready  to  be  served.  The  guests  were  much  interested  in  the 
process  of  cooking  and  were  equally  anxious  to  sample  the  pro- 
duct of  Indian  culinary  art.  Several  long  tables,  al  a  barbecue 
style,  were  set  upon  which  the  menu  was  spread  consisting  of  ribs 
of  beef,  Indian  style,  grubstakes,  salmon,  roast  beef,  roast  mutton, 
ham,  tongue,  stewed  chicken,  lobster  salad,  American  hominy  and 
milk,  corn,  potatoes,  cocoanut  pie,  apple  pie,  Wild  West  pud- 
ding, American  pop  corn  and  peanuts. 

The  whole  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  camp  breakfasted  with  the 
visitors,  squatting  on  straw  at  the  end  of  the  long  dining  tent. 
Each  "  brave"  had  a  sharp  white  stake  in  front  of  him,  on 
which  he  impaled  his  portion  of  rib  when  not  gnawing  it  from 
his  fingers.  Some  dozen  ribs  were  cooked  and  eaten  in  this 
primitive  fashion,  civilized  and  savage  methods  of  eating  con- 
fronting each  other.  The  thoroughly  typical  breakfast  over, 
excellent  speeches,  chiefly  of  a  humorous  nature,  were  made  by 
the  honored  guest,  Gen.  Cameron,  and  Chauncy  M.  De  Pew,  Mr. 
Lawrence  Jerome,  Murat  Halsted,  General  Joe.  Hawley,  Justin 
McCarthy, M.  P.,  Eed  Shirt,  Mr.  Salsbury  and  myself.  After  the 
speeches  an  Indian  dance  was  given,  and  the  guests  finally  with- 
drew sometime  after  noon,  while  a  majority  availed  themselves 
of  an  invitation  to  witness  the  Wild  West  entertainment. 

THE   PRINCE    OF   WALES    AND    HIS    ROYAL    FLUSH. 

Business  continued  to  boom  splendidly,  and  yet  another  ex- 
citement was  in  store  for  us.  There  came  to  Earl's  Court, 
carried  by  a  royal  equerry,  a  further  command  from  her  Majesty 
conveying  the  royal  pleasure  that  on  the  20th  of  June  a  special 


742  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

morning  exhibition  of  the  Wild  West  should  be  given  to  the 
kingly  and  princely  guests  of  Queen  Victoria  on  the  occasion  of 
her  Jubilee.  This  was  the  third  entertainment  given  to  royalty 
in  private,  and  surely  never  before  since  the  world  commenced 
has  such  a  gathering  honored  a  public  entertainment.  Csesar 
and  his  captive  monarchs,  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  — 
nothing  in  history  can  compare  with  that  gathering  of  the 
mighty  ones  of  the  earth  which  honored  our  entertainment. 
The  Queen  was  to  treat  them  to  a  display  of  quite  another  kind 
in  Westminster  Abbey  the  following  day;  but  the  Wild  West 
was  beforehand  with  her  Majesty  as  will  be  seen.  I  was  getting 
fairly  haidened  to  royalty  by  this  time;  I  had  exhibited  before 
it ;  I  had  met  it  at  private  parties  and  at  club-houses  ;  and  I  had 
seen  it  in  its  best  aspects,  honoring  and  honored  by  communion 
with  that  other  royalty  of  brains  which  holds  high  court  in  England 
as  everywhere.  But  this  was  to  be  a  knock-down  in  the  royalty 
line —  a  regular  wholesale  consignment  —  a  pack  of  cards  all 
pictures  and  waited  on  by  the  brightest,  best  and  bravest  and 
most  beautiful  that  all  Europe  and  a  good  part  of  Asia  could 
produce.  The  gathering  of  personages  consisted  of  the  King  of 
Denmark,  the  King  of  Saxony,  the  King  and  Queen  of  the 
Belgians,  and  the  King  of  Greece,  the  Crown  Prince  of  Austria, 
the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Saxe-Meiningen,  the  Crown  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Germany,  the  Grown  Prince  of  Sweden  and 
Norway,  the  Princess  Victoria  of  Prussia,  the  Duke  of  Sparta, 
the  Grand  Duke  Michael  of  Russia,  Prince  George  of  Greece, 
Prince  Louis  of  Baden  and  last,  but  not  least,  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales  with  their  family,  besides  a  great  host  of  lords 
and  Indies  innumerable. 

Our  good  old  Deadwood  coach,  "  baptized  in  fire  and  blood  " 
so  repeatedly  on  the  plains,  had  the  honor  of  carrying  on  its 
time-honored  timbers  four  kings  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  that 
day,  during  the  attack  of  the  redskins.  Said  His  Royal  Highness 
to  me,  when  the  show  was  over: 

"  Colonel,  you  never  held  four  kings  like  these  before." 
fc<I've   held    four  kings,'7  ^aid  I,  "  but  four  kings  and  the 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF    BUFFALO    BILL. 


743 


Prince  of  Wales  makes  a  royal  flush,  such  as  no  man  ever  held 
before." 

I  suppose  nay  old  poker-playing  experiences  were  instinctively 


in  the  ascendant  and  prompted  the  retort.  The  Prince  took  it, 
and  went  off  with  that  hair-trigger  laugh  of  his  that  is  so  well 
known  to  his  intimates.  To  their  European  majesties  the  jokes 


744  STORY   OF    THE    WILD    WEST. 

was  somewhat  recondite,  and  I  almost  pitied  the  Princ^  as  he 
tried  to  explain  it  in  three  languages  to  his  wondering  but  jbtuse 
auditors.  They  don't  play  poker  yet  at  the  continental  courts,  and 
come  to  think  of  it,  the  game  does  want  a  deal  of  learning  before 
you  get  the  hang  of  it  properly.  I  hope  their  majesties  enjoyed 
that  ride,  but  the  Indians  put  in  their  shooting  with  a  lot  of  en- 
ergy, and  somehow  the  crowned  heads  appeared  to  be  glad  when 
it  was  over. 

THE    PRINCE    PRESENTS    ME   WITH   A   DIAMOND    PIN, 

The  appended  letter  of  thanks  from  Marlborough  Houses  after 
this   interesting  gathering  will  probably  be  of  as  much  interest 
to  myreaders  as  it  was  to  myself:  — 

MARLBOROUGH  HOUSE,  ) 
PALL  MALL,  S.  W.      5 

DEAR  SIR: — Lieut. -General  Sir  Dighton  Probyn,  Comp- 
troller and  Treasurer  of  the  Prince  of  Wales'  household,  presents 
his  compliments  to  Colonel  Cody  and  is  directed  by  his  Eoyal 
Highness  to  forward  him  the  accompanying  pin  as  a  souvenir  of 
the  performance  of  the  Wild  West,  which  Colonel  Cody  gave 
before  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales,  the  Kings  of  Den- 
mark, Belgium,  Greece  and  Saxony  and  other  royal  guests  on 
Monday  last,  to  all  of  whom,  the  Prince  desires  Sir  Dighton 
Probyn  to  say. the  entertainment  gave  great  satisfaction. 
LONDON,  June  22d,  1887. 

A  further  souvenir,  which  I  shall  ever  highly  prize,  took  the 
form  of  the  pin  already  referred  to  —  the  Prince  of  Wales' 
feathers  worked  in  diamonds,  with  the  motto  "  Ich  dien  "  ("I 
serve  ")  beneath.  The  story  of  how  this  crest  and  motto  were 
wrested  from  the  King  of  Bohemia  at  Cressy  by  the  Black  Prince, 
son  of  Edward  III.,  of  England,  will,  perhaps,  be  familiar  to 
my  youthful  readers. 

THE    PRINCESS    RIDES    IN    THE    DEADWOOD    COACH. 

The  Prince  and  Princess  and  their  sons  anvl  daughters  were 
frequent  visitors  during  our  stay  in  London.  On  one  occasion 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO    BILL.  745 

her  Royal  Highness  determined  to  try  the  novel  sensation  of  a 
ride  in  the  old  stage,  and  sent  me  an  intimation  of  her  desire. 
I  went  to  the  royal  box  to  mention  the  exact  time  at  which  the 
coach  would  start,  and  found  that  her  royal  lord  and  master  had 
weighty  objections  to  any  such  proceeding.  He  may  not  have 
liked  it  over  well  himself,  and  seemed  a  little  nervous.  But 
"  when  a  lady  will,  she  will,  and  there's  an  end  on't,"  as  the  old 
proverb  says,  and  so  the  gentle  Alexandra 
was  booked  for  inside  passage,  and  took  it 
smilingly.  Her  spouse  seemed  much  re- 
lieved when  we  delivered  her  up  safe  and 
sound  after  her  exciting  expedition  ;  for  her- 
self she  seemed  highly  delighted,  and  thanked 
me  effusively  for  the  novel  pleasure  she  had 
experienced. 

The  Princess*  liking  for  the  entertainment 
seemed  to  grow  upon  acquaintance.  I  re- 
ceived one  day  a  startling  intimation  to  the 
effect  that  the  Princess  would  that  evening 
visit  the  show  incognita .  For  a  royal  lady 
whose  face  is  as  well  known  in  London  as 
that  of  Big  Ben  at  Westminster  this  seemed 
considerably  cool.  Our  manager,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  receive  her,  declared  himself 
in  a  "  middling  tight  fix."  The  hour  came, 
and  with  it  the  willful  lady,  and  the  Major 
assisted  her  from  her  private  carriage  into 
the  lobby.  PIN  PRESENTED  ME  BY 

•  "  Your  Royal  Highness  will  not  desire  to  THE  PRINCE  OF  WALES. 
use  your  own  box,  perhaps?  "  he  said. 

"  No,  sir  ;  your  band  will  play  the  national  anthem,  and  then 
I  am  in  plain  view,  you  see,  discovered.     Is  it  not?  " 

This  was  charmingly  said,  in  her  pretty  unidiomatic  English, 
but  the  gallant  manager  rubbed  his  chin. 

"  Has  your  Royal   Highness  a  desire  for  any  particular  posi- 
tion? "  he  asked. 


Y4t>  STORT  OF  THE  WILD   WEST. 

"  Certainly,  yes.  Put  me  immediately  amongst  the  people. 
I  like  the  people." 

Then  the  manager « «  struck  a  bright  idea. ' '  It  was  an  off-night 
for  the  newspaper  men,  and  the  commodious  press  box  was  sacred 
from  intrusion.  Into  the  press  box  accordingly  ho  ushered  the 
royal  lady  and  her  attendant.  The  performance  had  hardly  com- 
menced when — horror  of  horrors! — in  came  a  triplet  of  hardy 
press  men  and  a  lady.  To  the  manager  and  myself  alone  of  all 
our  company  was  the  secret  of  the  Princess'  visit  known.  Con- 
sequently the  attendants  ushered  the  new-comers  into  their  usual 
seats  without  question  and  closed  the  door  behind  them. 

Presently  to  the  manager  "  dancing  on  thorns,"  came  one  of 
the  newspaper  boys:  "  Say,  partner,  will  you  mind  saying  who 
are  our  companions?  I  really  never  saw  such  a  likeness  in  all 
my  life  to — " 

"  I  know  what  you  are  going  to  say,"  said  the  manager;  "  the 
resemblance  really  is  rather  striking.  But  come  along;  I'll  in- 
troduce you." 

The  thing  had  to  be  bluffed  out  somehow ;  and  in  due  course 
the  press  men  were  formally  introduced  to  "  Colonel  and  Mrs. 
Jones,  friends  of  mine  from  Texas,"  by  the  imperturbable  man- 
ager, who  believes  in  taking  the  bull  by  the  horns. 

The  Princess  took  the  joke  with  becoming  gravity,  although 
her  companion  seemed  horribly  disturbed.  She  confessed  after- 
wards that  it  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  and  funniest  evenings 
she  had  ever  spent  in  her  life.  As  to  the  manager  he 
was  in  a  cold  perspiration  until  he  had  steered  his  onerous 
charge  through  the  departing  crowd  of  sight-seers  and 
seen  her  comfortably  seated  in  her  carriage.  His  attempt  at  .a 
murmured  apology  was  cut  short  by  a  silvery  laugh,  as  the  Prin- 
cess remarked  the  "  evening  has  been  most  enjoyable  and  the  ad- 
venture one  grand  success,"  and  so,  as  the  Frenchmen  say,  "  the 
incident  closed  itself." 

CLOSE  OF  THE  LONDON  SEASON. 

And  so  amidst  innumerable  social  junketings,  leastings,  and 
courtly  functions  which  now  seem  like  the  glistening  pageant  of 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  74V 

a  fairy  dream  thrown  suddenly  athwart  the  memories  of  my 
war-like,  rough-and-tumble  earlier  career,  our  London  experi- 
ences drew  to  a  successful  close.  We  had  been  making « «  barrels  of 
money;"  but  it  had  been  hard  work  for  all  hands,  doubly  and 
trebly  hard  for  me,  living  the  life  of  a  hard-working  member  of  the 
company  ;  responsible  master  of  our  singularly  complicated  gather- 
ing of  wild  spirits  from  the  several  regions  of  half-civilized 
America,  north,  west,  and  south,  and  greatest  if  pleasantest  toil 
of  all,  the  feted  guest  of  all  that  was  rich  and  frivolous,  royal 
and  talented,  great  and  Bohemian  in  that  mighty  mixed  congeries 
of  many-shaded  humanity,  London  society.  I  wonder  as  I  write 
how  much  of  me  is  flesh  and  blood,  and  how  much  steel  and 
leather,  that  I  should  have  endured  the  strain  without  breaking 
down.  A  man  wants  hardening  for  a  life  on  the  plains;  but  he 
wants  to  be  tanned  and  tempered,  hammered  and  welded  into 
adamant  to  stand  the  tension  of  such  a  life  as  mine  during  that 
summer  season.  We  had  all  the  elements  of  success,  a  contin- 
uity of  delightful  weather,  unknown  in  England  for  thirty  years 
before  our  coming;  an  appreciative  community,  the  help  of  hun- 
dreds of  kind  friends  in  the  press  and  in  society,  to  whom  my 
gratitude  is  and  ever  will  be  inexpressible ;  and  lastly,  a  really 
first-rate  entertainment  that  awoke  a  strongly  sympathetic  re- 
sponse in  the  generous  public  sentiment  of  the  British  nation. 
With  one  more  extract  I  conclude  this  eventful  epoch  of  our  his- 
tory. It  is  from  the  "Thunderer"  of  Printing-house  square; 
the  great  Times  itself,  and  will  serve  to  fitly  round  off  my  story 
of  our  magnificent  reception  in  the  metropolis  of  Britain,  with 
its  100  square  miles  of  bricks  and  mortar,  and  its  population  of 
5,000,000  souls  (asserted).  It  was  printed  on  Nov.  1,  the  day 
after  our  final  triumphant  performance :  — 

The  Wild  West  Exhibition,  which  has  attracted  all  the  town  to  West  Brompton 
for  the  last  few  months,  was  brought  yesterday  to  an  appropriate  and  dignified 
close.  A  meeting  of  representative  Englishmen  and  Americans  was  held,  under 
the  presidency  of  Lord  Lome,  in  support  of  the  movement  for  establishing  a 
Court  of  Arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  this  country  and  the 
United  States.  At  first  sight  it  might  seem  to  be  a  far  cry  from  the  Wild  West  to 
an  International  Court.  Yet  the  connection  is  not  really  very  remote.  Exhibitions 


748  STORY   OF   THE    WILD   WEST. 

of  American  products  and  of  a  few  scenes  from  the  wilder  phases  of  America* 
life  certainly  tend  in  some  degree  at  least  to  bring  America  nearer  to  England. 
They  are  partly  cause  and  partly  effect.  They  are  the  effect  of  increased  and. 
increasing  intercourse  between  the  two  countries,  and  they  tend  to  promote  a 
still  more  intimate  understanding.  The  two  things,  the  Exhibition  and  the  Wild 
West  Show,  have  supplemented  each  other.  Those  who  went  to  be  amused 
often  stayed  to  be  instructed.  It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  show  was  the 
attraction  which  made  the  fortune  of  the  Exhibition.  Without  Colonel  Cody, 
his  cowboys,  and  his  Indians,  it  is  conceivable  that  the  Exhibition  might  have 
reproduced  the  Wild  West  in  one  feature  at  any  rate  —  namely,  its  solitude  —  with 
rare  fidelity.  But  the  Wild  West  was  irresistible.  Colonel  Cody,  much  to  the 
astonishment  of  some  of  his  more  superfine  compatriots,  suddenly  found  hirasell 
the  hero  of  the  London  season.  Notwithstanding  his  daily  engagements  and  his 
punctual  fulfillment  of  them,  he  found  time  to  go  everywhere,  to  see  everything, 
and  to  be  seen  by  all  the  world.  All  London  contributed  to  his  triumph,  and  now 
the  close  of  his  show  is  selected  as  the  occasion  for  promoting  a  great  inter- 
national  movement  with  Mr.  Bright,  Lord  Granville,  Lord  Wolseley,  and  Lord 
Lome  for  its  sponsors.  Colonel  Cody  can  achieve  no  greater  triumph  than  this, 
«ven  if  he  some  day  realizes  the  design  attributed  to  him  of  running  the  Wild 
West  Show  within  the  classic  precincts  of  the  Colosseum  at  Rome. 

To  which  last  suggestion,  all  I  have  to  reply  is  that  if  the  colos- 
seum  at  Rome  possessed  the  requisite  accommodation  for  an 
enterprise  of  the  magnitude  of  the  Wild  West  more  unlikely 
things  might  well  happen  than  a  visit  by  our  combination  to  the 
city  of  the  Seven  Hills.  Columbus  was  a  Genoese,  and  there 
would  be  no  irreverence  to  antiquity  in  presenting  his  Italian  fel- 
low-countrymen with  a  few  phases  in  the  history  of  that  gigan- 
tic New  World  which  he  was  the  first  to  bring  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  old. 

OUR  TOUR  IN  "  THE  PROVINCES." 

A  brief  but  successful  occupancy  of  the  Aston  Lower  Grounds, 
Birmingham,  followed  almost  immediately  upon  our  London 
triumphs.  Birmingham,  the  headquarters  of  the  British  gun- 
making  industry,  the  fancy  metal  trades  and  of  innumerable 
branches  of  the  lighter  hardware  crafts,  together  with  its  numer- 
ous surrounding  towns  responded  nobly  to  our  invitation.  The 
news  of  our  reception  in  London  had  gone  before  us,  and  we 
met  with  a  prodigious  welcome  from  the  screw-makers,  the  tea- 
pot turners  and  the  manufacturers"  of  artificial  jewelry  and 
«'  Brummagem  goods  "  in  general.  But  with  the  drifting  season 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  749 

there  were  signs  that  the  weather  was  breaking.  It  was  manifest 
that  the  Wild  West  must  get  under  cover  in  winter  quarters,  and 
a  mightier  center  than  Birmingham  was  extending  its  arms  to  us 
farther  north. 

Manchester,  with  its  surrounding  net  work  of  a  hundred  smaller 
but  yet  important  towns  — "  Cottonopolis/'  as  it  is  endear- 
ingly called  by  its  denizens  —  was  issuing  pressing  invitations. 
This  powerful  district  resembles  nothing  so  much  as  a  still  greater 
London,  split  and  separated  by  the  explosion  of  a  bombshell. 
A  population  of  some  six  million  toilers  in  mine  and  mill,  divided 
into  communities  of  from  10,000  to  100,000  or  so,  yet  linked  to 
the  great  center  by  a  spider's  web  of  railways —  such  was  the  ob- 
ject of  our  next  and  perhaps  most  gigantic  effort  of  all. 

A   VISIT    TO    ITALY. 

During  the  period  of  preparation  for  opening  the  Wild  West 
exhibition  in  Manchester,  I  took  advantag^1  of  the  spare  time 
that  was  offered,  and  with  my  daughter,  Arta,  spent  a  well-earned 
vacation  of  two  weeks  in  Italy.     I  say  well-earned  because  from 
the  day  of  opening  our  show  in  London  until  the  close  of  our 
engagement  in  that  city  I  had  not  missed  a  single  one  of  the 
three  hundred  performances  given,  notwithstanding  the  unex- 
ampled social  courtesies  that  I  was  compelled  to  observe,  which 
kept  me  occupied  nearly  eighteen  hours  out  of  every  twenty-four. 
At  one  time  it  had  been  the  ambition  of  Mr.  Salsbury  and  myself 
to  give   a  Wild  West  exhibition  in    the  ancient  colosseum  of 
Rome,  but  an  examination  of  the  ruins  and  surroundings  speed- 
ily convinced  me  that  to  make  the  attempt  would  be  a  vaulting 
ambition   overleaping  itself,  and  the   idea   was   abandoned.     I 
made  a  rather  hasty  tour  of  the  more  important  cities  of  Italy, 
but  can  hardly  admit  that  the  trip  was  an  enjoyable  one  on  ac- 
count of  a  constant  realization  of  the  necessity  of  my  presence 
with  the  show,  and  the  hurried  manner  in  which  I  was  compelled 
to  make  my  visit.     Accordingly,  I  returned  to  Manchester  and 
helped  prepare  for  opening  the  winter  season  there. 

The  English  winter,  if   not  subject  to  such  intense  frosts  and 


750  STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

other  rigors  as  are  known  to  the  American  climate,  is  yet  an  ex- 
tremely trying  season.  Variety,  it  is  said,  is  charming,  but  he 
must  be  an  optimist  indeed,  who  can  be  charmed  with  the  mix- 
ture of  weather  which  favored  us  during  our  stay  in  the  great 
northern  center.  Rain,  fog,  frost,  drizzle,  snow  and  searching 
east  wind  followed  each  other  in  fantastic  succession,  not  one  of 
them  staying  long  enough  to  assert  itself  as  the  prevalent  weather, 
but  giving  us  a  very  choice  assortment  of  samples.  We  had 
prepared  for  this  state  of  things,  however.  The  Manchester 
race-course,  which,  by  the  way,  is  situated  in  the  adjoining  bor- 
ough of  Salford,  on  the  banks  of  the  inky  ditch  known  as  the 
Irwell,  is  made  on  a  magnificent  stretch  of  green  sward  easily 
accessible  from  all  parts  of  the  district.  At  the  race  meetings 
which  occur  several  times  in  the  course  of  each  year,  it  is  not 
uncommon  for  80,000  or  100,000  persons  to  assemble  on  this 
tract  of  land.  Here,  then,  I  decided  to  pitch  our  tents  and  go 
into  winter  quartersj^  In  the  .short  space  of  two  months  the 
largest  theater  ever  seen  in  the  world  was  erected  by  an  enter- 
prising firm  of  Manchester  builders,  together  with  a  commodious 
building  attached  to  it  for  the  accommodation  of  the  troop, 
whose  tents  and  tepees  were  erected  under  its  shelter,  the  whole 
of  the  structures  being  comfortably  heated  by  steam  and  illumin- 
ated by  the  electric  light.  One  great  advantage  of  the  race-course 
was  the  large  and  splendidly  appointed  range  of  stables,  gener- 
ally used  for  the  accommodation  of  the  horses  of  the  English 
turf,  which  were  placed  at  our  disposal.  The  buildings  in  which 
Ormonde ,  Ben .  d'  Or ,  Robert  the  Devil ,  and  a  thousand  other  world- 
famed  equine  wonders  had  taken  their  rest  and  refreshment,  were 
now  appropriated  to  the  comfort  of  our  bronchos,  mustangs  and 
other  four-footed  coadjutors.  Of  the  vast  theater  itself,  and  the 
novel  style  of  entertainment  which  I  had  the  pleasure  of  intro- 
ducing to  the  hard-working  millions  and  the  cotton  and  iron 
princes  of  the  North  of  England,  no  more  vivid  picture  can  be 
presented  than  that  drawn  by  the  reporter  of  the  Sunday 
Chronicle,  a  paper  of  enormous  influence  in  the  wide  area  whose 
people  we  intended  to  attract.  I  may  premise  that  the  splendid 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OP   BUFFALO    BILL.  751 

scenery  used  upon  our  mammoth  stage  was  from  the  brush  of 
Mr.  Matt.  Morgan,  an  English  artist  whose  name  is  familiar  to 
Americans.  The  scenes,  which  cost  us  $40,000,  were  from  nature, 
and  enabled  us  to  combine  the  painted  full  effects  of  a  gigantic 
stage  display  with  the  free  movement  of  our  250  horsemen  upon 
the  open  plain.  Says  the  reporter: 

A  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SHOW. 

A  vast  amphitheater,  shaped  somewhat  like  a  horseshoe  magnet,  with  giant 
proscenium  stretched  across  its  poles;  an  enormous  stage,  constructed  without 
flooring,  the  scenery  and  set  pieces  of  which  are  let  down  upon  the  bare  earth; 
a  drama,  dealing  with  a  period  of  five  hundred  years,  in  which  nearly  three 
hundred  men  and  women,  and  as  many  horses,  buffaloes,  and  other  four-footed 
creatures  take  part,  performed  in  great  measure  immediately  under  the  eyes  of 
the  spectators,  on  a  huge  plain  level  with  the  stage  and  drifting  into  a  perspec- 
tive upon  it  —  such  is  a  general  description  of  the  performance  which  was  given 
for  the  first  time  yesterday  afternoon  by  Colonel  Cody  and  his  magnificent 
troupe.  The  theater,  brilliantly  lighted  and  well  warmed  throughout,  is  like 
nothing  else  ever  constructed  in  this  country.  The  seats,  accommodating  nearly 
ten  thousand  persons,  are  ranged  in  tiers,  from  the  pew-like  private  boxes  in 
front  to  a  height  of  forty  feet  or  so;  and  the  distance  from  the  extreme  end  of 
the  auditorium  to  the  back  of  the  stage  is  so  great  that  a  horseman  galloping 
across  the  whole  area  diminishes  by  natural  perspective  until  the  spectator  is 
fairly  cheated  into  the  idea  that  the  journey  is  to  be  prolonged  until  the  rider 
vanishes  in  the  pictured  horizon.  The  illusion,  indeed,  is  so  well  managed  and 
complete,  the  boundless  plains  and  swelling  prairies  are  so  vividly  counterfeited, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  belief  that  we  are  really  gazing  over  an  immense 
expanse  of  country  from  some  hillside  in  the  far  "West.  The  pictures,  from  the 
brush  of  the  talented  Matt.  Morgan,  are  singularly  beautiful  in  themselves,  and 
it  only  needs  the  constantly  varying  groups  of  living  men  and  animals  in  front 
of  them  to  complete  the  charm. 

In  arranging  the  latest  development  of  their  exhibition,  Messrs.  Cody  and 
Salsbury  have  undertaken  no  trifling  task.  Besides  the  displays  of  horseman- 
ship and  feats  of  shooting  with  which  the  notices  of  their  doings  in  London  have 
familiarized  the  public,  they  have  determined  to  present  the  story  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  American  Continent  from  primeval  times  until  the  present  day. 
It  is  a  play  without  a  plot  and  without  dialogue,  unless  the  clever  and  humorous 
lecture  of  Mr.  Frank  Richmond,  the  "orator"  of  the  establishment,  can  be 
called  such.  This  gentleman  occupies  a  lofty  pulpit  to  the  left  of  the  proscenium, 
and  it  says  much  for  the  acoustic  properties  of  the  gigantic  building  that  his 
voice  can  be  heard  so  distinctly  as  it  is.  The  drama,  however,  has  no  lack  of 
coherence,  and  the  interest  of  the  spectators  is  unflaggingly  sustained  through- 
out the  long  succession  of  exciting  scenes  from  the  introduction  to  the  close. 

By  the  plan  adopted  the  entertainment  is  divided  into  "  episodes,"  of  which 


752 


STORY    OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


the  first,  after  the  preliminary  of  a  general  personal  introduction  of  the  troop*?, 
is  the  Forest  Primeval,  in  which 

The  murmuring  pines  and  the  hemlocks 
Bearded  with  moss,  and  in  garments  green, 
Indistinct  in  the  twilight, 
Stand  like  Drnids  of  old. 

It  is  midnight,  and  wild  animals  lie  scattered  about  in  their  lairs.  With  the 
opening  dawn  we  make  tke  acquaintance  of  the  Red  Indian  as  he  used  to  be 
oefore  the  white  man  crowded  him  out  of  his  possessions.  At  sunriso  —  « 


COWBOY    LASSOING    AN   INDIAN. 

beautifully  stage-managed  effect  — we  have  the  meeting  of  two  Indian  tr;v>es, 
who  execute  a  friendly  dance  to  a  quaint  barbaric  measure.  Then  comes  a 
courier  with  notice  of  the  approach  of  a  hostile  tribe  intent  upon  massacre  and 
the  collection  of  scalps.  The  attack  is  delivered  with  terrific  vigor,  and  the 
battle  that  ensues  is  an  unequalled  picture  of  savage  warfare. 

The  Second  Episode  deals  with  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  from  the 
Mayflower  on  Plymouth  Rock,  with  which  the  era  of  civilization  is  held  to  com- 
mence. Here,  again,  the  scenery  is  remarkably  fine,  and  the  characters  in  the 
tableau  are  characteristically  dressed  in  the  short  capes,  steeple-crowned  hats, 
and  sad-colored  Puritan  raiment  of  religious  England  in  their  day.  From  this, 
amidst  appropriate  music  from  Mr.  Sweeny's  Cowboy  Band,  the  scene  changes- 
to  Episode  No.  3,  the  rescue  from  death  of  that  heroic  bearer  of  an  honored 
name,  John  Smith,  by  that  beauteous  Indian  princess,  Pocahontas.  Now 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OP   BUFFALO    BILL.  753 

ensues  a  most  Interesting  delineation  of  Indian  manners  and  customs,  from  the 
wedding  to  the  war  dance,  by  the  whole  of  the  Indian  forces,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Red  Shirt  himself. 

With  the  Fourth  Episode  we  reach  more  stirring  scenes.  The  picture,  com- 
posed of  innumerable  front  sets  and  a  most  lovely  background,  by  Matt  Morgan, 
represents  the  prairie,  with  a  drinking  pool,  or  "lick,"  in  the  foreground,  to 
which  the  wild  buffaloes  come  to  slake  their  thirst.  In  pursuit  of  the  great  game 
comes  Buffalo  Bill  himself,  on  his  famous  horse,  Old  Charlie,  who  has  covered 
one  hundred  miles  in  less  than  ten  hours,  conducting  an  emigrant  train  of  white 
folks,  with  wagons,  horsemen,  women,  and  children,  and  all  the  accessories  of 
a  march  across  the  wilderness.  In  the  gathering  twilight  they  camp  around  the 
poo^,  the  fires  are  lit,  and  a  clever  performance  of  the  "  Virginia  horseback  reel  " 
takes  place.  Subsequently,  with  the  gathering  darkness,  the  camp  sinks  into 
slumber,  and  for  awhile  all  is  still.  Then  comes  a  piece  of  stage  managing, 
which  more  nearly  approaches  the  terrible  than  anything  ever  yet  attempted  in 
this  country.  A  red  streak  upon  the  horizon  gives  earning  that  some  unwonted 
danger  is  approaching  the  sleeping  folks;  the  glow  broadens  and  deepens,  and 
seems  to  creep  gradually  over  the  pictured  miles  of  open  country,  until  the 
slumbering  people  are  roused  with  the  appalling  intelligence  that  the  prairie  is 
on  fire.  The  conflagration  approaches  nearer  and  nearer,  until  the  whole  land- 
scape appears  one  lurid  mass  of  incandescence,  and  the  roaring  flames  leap 
down  upon  the  foreground  with  wild  fury,  threatening  all  concerned  with  a 
horrible  death.  The  men  endeavor  to  stamp  out  the  conflagration  with  their 
rugs  and  blankets,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  horror  there  swoops  upon  them  a 
maddened  rush  of  wild  animals,  flying  from  the  fire,  and  a  "  stampede  "  ensues 
in  all  its  terrors.  This  scene,  which  reflects  the  highest  credit  upon  the  stage 
management,  is  one  of  the  grandest  ever  placed  before  the  public,  and  fairly  baffles 
description. 

Next  ensues  some  cowboy  and  Mexican  vaquero  business  with  bucking  horses, 
throwing  the  lasso,  in  which  that  handsome  cavalier  and  King  of  the  Cowboys, 
Buck  Taylor,  figures  conspicuously;  and  we  get  some  extraordinary  feats  in 
shooting  by  Johnny  Baker,  the  Cowboy  Kid,  all  of  which  is  very,  novel  and 
amusing.  And  so  we  arrive  at  the  Fifth  Episode,  the  scene  of  which  is  a  cattle 
ranche  in  the  Wild  West,  with  a  real  log  hut  and  all  appropriate  surroundings- 
The  settlers,  after  an  interesting  representation  of  camp  life  in  the  wilds,  are 
attacked  by  Indians,  and  a  fierce  battle  ensues,  which  is  waged  with  varying 
fortunes  until  it  ends  in  the  rescue  of  the  besieged  party  by  a  band  of  whites, 
and  the  flight  of  the  Redskins.  An  interlude  is  occupied  by  some  fancy  rifle 
shooting  by  Miss  Lillian  Smith,  "the  California  girl,"  and  then  we  come  to  an- 
other grand  historical  tableau  in  the  Sixth  Episode,  wherein  is  set  out  the  routine 
of  a  military  camp  on  the  frontier.  The  unfortunate  General  Custer,  occupying 
with  his  regiment  a  stockade  or  log  fort,  receives  intimation  of  the  discovery  of 
a  camp  of  hostile  Indians  by  his  scouts.  "  Boots  and  saddle  "  is  sounded,  and 
the  troops  move  off  to  the  second  scene,  which  is  the  camp  of  Sitting  Bull  and 
his  braves  on  the  Little  Big  Horn  river.  The  ambush  and  subsequent  massacre 
of  the  whole  of  the  gallant  band  of  white  men  is  presented  with  vivid  realism, 

48 


754 


STORY   OP   THE   WILD   WEST. 


and  the  battle-field  by  night,  which  closes  the  episode,  develops  in  its  full 
horrors  what  has  been  fitly  called  "  the  reddest  page  of  savage  history." 

A  brilliant  display  of  shooting  on  foot  and  on  horseback  by  Buffalo  Bill  him- 
self is  now  given  in  the  arena,  and  the  magical  promptitude  with  which  glass 

balls  and  other  small 
objects  are  shattered 
before  his  never-erring 
aim  while  riding  at  full 
speed  must  be  seen  to 
be  believed.  In  this 
remarkable  exhibition, 
as  in  the  other  shoot- 
ing performances,  the 
iron  fireproof  curtain 
is  made  to  do  duty  as  a 
background  or  target, 
and  the  whole  perfor- 
mance may  be  war- 
ranted to  take  the 
conceit  out  of  any 
ordinary  marksman. 
It  is  nothing  less  than 
marvellous. 

The  Seventh  Epi- 
sode, which  marks  a 
still  later  period  of 
frontier  life,  is  per- 
haps the  most  exciting 
and  picturesque  of  the 
whole  entertainment. 
The  first  scene  is  a 
mining  camp,  "  Dead- 
wood  City,"  in  the 
Black  Hills,  with  the 
"Wild  West  Tavern" 
in  the  foreground,  and 
we  are  treated  seriatim 
to  the  incidents  of  a 
miners'  holiday,  with 
a  shooting  match,  the 
arrival  of  the  pony 
express,  and  a  frontier 
for  breakfast."  Then 


duel,  with  its  characteristic  ending  of  "  another  man 


comes  the  departure  of  the  Deadwood  Coach,  and  the  scene  changes  to  a 
"canyon"  or  rocky  pass  in  the  hills.  The  Deadwood  Coach  with  its  freight 
of  passengers,  guards  and  "  shotgun  messengers,"  is  fallen  upon  in  the  canyon 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL.  755 

by  Indians,  and  a  stubborn  battle  occurs,  in  which  the  passengers  are  likely 
to  succumb,  when  they  are  rescued  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  Buffalo  Bill 
and  his  Cowboy  cavalry. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  no  lack  of  exciting  business  in  all  this,  and  the 
consumption  of  gunpowder  is  enormous.  The  members  of  the  company  go  at 
their  work  with  appalling  zest,  and  their  picturesque  mingling  of  spirited 
horses,  quaint  costumes  and  warlike  impedimenta,  in  all  the  wild  confusion  of 
a  frontier  melee,  is  brilliantly  effective.  In  the  third  scene  of  this  episode  we 
return  to  the  mountain  village,  in  which  the  climax  of  scenic  effect  is  reached 
by  the  production  of  a  genuine  cyclone.  Powerful  wind-making  machinery  has 
been  put  down  for  this  purpose,  and  a  blast  is  delivered  upon  the  stage  strong 
enough  to  rend  the  log  cabins  to  pieces,  and  scatter  their  fragments,  together 
with  wagons,  camp  furniture,  and  even  human  beings  from  one  side  of  the  stage 
to  the  other.  The  howling  of  the  tornado  and  the  disastrous  effect  of  its  resist- 
less current  are  realistically  presented.  How  it  is  done  is,  of  course,  a  stage 
secret,  but  there  is  no  gainsaying  the  magnificent  completeness  with  which  the 
hurricane  gets  in  its  work  and  reduces  the  camp  of  the  little  mining  community 
to  chaos.  This  brings  the  performance  to  an  effective  close. 

THE  CROWD  AT  OUR  OPENING  PERFORMANCE. 

As  a  "  send-off  "  to  the  new  departure  we  had  invited  the 
whole  of  the  beauty,  rank  and  fashion  of  Manchester  and  the 
surrounding  towns  to  a  gratis  performance  of  this  programme 
two  days  before  our  opening  date.  The  mayors,  town  councils, 
corporation  officials,  prominent  merchants  and  manufacturers, 
bishops  and  clergy  of  all  denominations,  and  an  able-bodied 
horde  of  pressmen  came  down  in  their  thousands.  From  Liver- 
pool across  country  through  Leeds  and  York  to  Hull  and  New- 
castle, and  from  Carlisle  as  far  south  as  Birmingham,  everybody 
of  consequence  was  present,  and  the  immense  building  was  filled 
to  its  utmost  capacity.  The  notice  above  quoted  will  show  that 
all  had  reason  to  be  pleased,  and  the  story  they  had  to  tell  of 
the  marvellous  things  to  be  witnessed  at  the  Wild  West  spread 
with  lightning  rapidity  through  every  town  from  which  they  had 
gathered  together.  The  consequence  was  that  from  our  opening 
day  it  was  often  difficult  to  cope  with  the  throngs  who  presented 
themselves  at  afternoon  and  evening  performances,  alike  to  feast 
their  eyes  upon  the  dangers  and  the  glories  of  America's  devel- 
opment. Despite  the  dreary  winter  weather,  or  perhaps  be- 
cause of  it,  the  well-lighted,  well-warmed  "  Temple  of  Buffalo 


756  STORY   OF  THE   WILD   WEST. 

Bill  and  Thespis,"  as  somebody  called  it,  was  the  constant  resort 
of  pleasure-seeking  throngs. 

Amongst  other  demands  upon  our  seating  space  came  scores 
of  requisitions  from  the  heads  of  schools  and  charitable  institu- 
tions, which  are  thickly  scattered  through  the  mining,  weaving 
and  spinning  towns  of  Bolton,  Bury,  Rochdale,  Oldham,  Staly- 
bridge  and  a  hundred  more,  as  well  as  those  in  Manchester  and 
Salford.  "  What  is  the  lowest  price  at  which  you  can  allow  us 
to  give  our  little  waifs  a  treat?"  was  the  burden  of  I  don't  know 
how  many  letters.  My  invariable  reply  was  "  Let  us  know  your 
numbers  and  come  on  Wednesday  afternoon,  which  is  the  only* 
time  when  we  are  not  over-crowded,  and  we  will  fix  you  up  for 
nothing  at  all,  if  we  have  to  turn  money  away  for  you."  I  lay 
claim  to  no  credit  for  generosity  in  this  particular,  for  each  in- 
vitation of  the  kind  increased  our  popularity  to  a  surprising  ex- 
tent, and  it  was  only  a  further  example  of  the  good  policy  of 
*'  casting  your  bread  upon  the  waters."  Amongst  these  ju- 
venile visitors  were  the  100  inmates  of  Chetham's  College,  a 
Manchester  charitable  institution  dating  back  to  the  times  of 
Henry  VI.,  the  boys  of  which  are  still  quartered  in  the  fine  old 
Gothic  building  erected  during  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  over  a 
hundred  years  before  Columbus  turned  his  vessel's  prow  to  the 
westward  and  steered  for  nowhere  in  particular,  to  the  great 
horror  of  the  Old  World  navigators  of  his  time. 

During  our  stay  in  Cottonopolis  I  found  the  same  ungrudging  and 
overwhelming  social  hospitality  that  had  tried  my  physical  pow- 
ers so  severely  in  the  capital.  "  Thrones,  powers,  dominions," 
and  dynastic  royalty  are  of  course  conspicuous  by  their  absence 
from  this  vast  manufacturing,  money-making  heart  of  Northern 
activity.  But  that  sublimer  royalty  of  commerce,  of  invention, 
of  fire  and  steel,  of  ever-flying  shuttle  and  spindle  here  holds  high 
state,  and  its  entertainments  are  princely  in  scope  and  hearty  in 
their  hospitality.  They  have  a  pride  of  their  own,  too,  these  coal 
and  cotton  lords  and  self-made  millionaires.  The  man  himself 
and  the  great  things  he  has  done  for  humanity  are  held  in  more 
esteem  than  long  descent  or  the  glamors  of  inherited  wealth.  I 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  757 

found  here,  in  fact,  a  closer  resemblance  to  the  natural  dignity  of 
the  American  citizen  than  I  had  experienced  elsewhere  in  England. 
My  invitation  list  would  occupy  more  space  than  I  can  afford. 

PRESENTED   WITH    A   RIFLE. 

One  event,  amongst  my  endeavors  to  make  some  return  for 
this  unbounded  stream  of  hospitality,  caused  a  considerable  sen- 
sation in  the  district,  from  its  novelty.  It  had  been  determined 
by  the  artistic,  dramatic,  and  literary  gentlemen  of  Manchester 
to  make  me  a  public  presentation  of  a  magnificent  rifle,  decked 
in  flowers  and  gaily  adorned  with  ribbons,  and  the  event  having 
got  wind  in  London,  the  elite  of  the  metropolitan  literati,  headed 
by  Sir  Somers  Vine  and  including  representatives  of  all  the 
great  American  journals,  secured  a  special  train  and  ran 
up  to  Manchester,  some  hundred  strong,  to  grace  the 
ceremony  with  their  presence.  The  happy  thought  struck 
me  of  inviting  the  whole  crowd  of  local  celebrities  and 
London  visitors  to  what  for  them  would  be  an  entirely  original 
lay-out.  This  was  a  camp  dinner,  with  fried  oysters,  Boston 
pork  and  beans,  Maryland  chicken,  and  other  American  dishes, 
and  a  real  Indian  "  rib-roast"  as  the  piece  de  resistance. 

The  presentation,  which  took  place  in  the  arena,  being  over, 
the  banquet  was  held  in  the  race-course  pavilion.  The  Mayor  of 
Salford  and  a  number  of  civic  dignitaries  from  both  Manchester 
and  the  neighboring  borough  graced  the  table  with  their  presence ; 
United  States  Consul  Moffat  of  London  honored  me  with  his 
company  and  Consul  Hale  of  Manchester  —  a  gentleman  held 
in  high  and  well  deserved  respect  by  the  whole  of  the  rich  and 
powerful  community  amongst  whom  he  resides  and  labors  —  made 
the  speech  of  the  evening.  Nate  Salsbury,  as  the  vice-chairman, 
simply  excelled  himself;  and  the  comments  of  the  English  guests 
upon  the  novel  and  to  them  outlandish  fare  they  were  consum- 
ing were  highly  amusing  to  us  of  the  American  party.  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  the  corn-cake,  hominy,  and  other  Ameri- 
can fixings,  were  a  complete  revelation  to  them.  The  rib-roast, 
served  in  tin  platters  and  eaten  in  the  fingers,  without  knives  or 


758 


STORY   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 


forks,  was  a  source  of  huge  wonderment.  I  reckon  that  English- 
men never  toasted  the  American  flag  more  heartily,  and  for  a  week 
afterwards  the  press  of  the  country  was  dilating  on  the  strange 
and  savage  doings  at  the  Wild  West  camp.  A  newspaper  genius 
of  Manchester,  who  seems  to  have  studied  his  Longfellow  to 
some  purpose,  gushed  into  blank  verse  with  the  following  epic, 
entitled  : 

THE  RIB-ROAST  OF  PA-HE-HASKA. 

At  the  top  end  of  the  table 

Sat  the  noble  Pa  he- haska  — 

Buffalo  Bill  in  all  his  glory! 

Mignty  Moflfat.  London  Consul 

And  the  puissant  Mayor  of  Salford, 

Sachem  of  the  model  borough, 

With  his  elders  grave  in  council 

(Not  too  grave  when  flows  the  grape  juice), 

Flanked  the  chieftain  on  his  right  hand, 

Fed  like  men  well  used  to  camp  life, 

Used  to  all  a  Hunter's  manners! 


Mr.  Editor.  — 

Should  you  ask  me  whence  this  poem, 

Whence  this  yarn  of  tangled  meaning, 

With  its  odor  of  Havana, 

And  its  marks  of  Mumm's  best  vintage 

Staining  every  side  of  copy, 

Staining  text  and  staining  margin  — 

I  should  answer,  I  should  tell  you: 

From  the  festive  board  of  William, 

From  the  feast  of  Pa-he-haska, 

Long  haired  lord  of  many  cowboys  — 

Buffalo  Bill,  the  mighty  hunter 

From  across  the  Gitche-Gumee 

("  Herring-pond  "  is  what  we  call  it). 

When  he  fed  the  London  Pressmen 

On  the  Muskoday,  the  meadow 

On  the  Manchester  big  Racecourse. 

******* 

In  the  lodges  of  the  Turfites, 

There  we  gathered  in  the  evening, 

In  the  gloaming,  O  my  darling! 

When  the  matinee  was  over. 

Many  chieftains  came  from  London, 
Many  from  the  heap  big  village, 
Pioneered  by  stout  Tom  Burnside, 
With  his  waist  of  grand  dimensions- 
Equatorial  enlargement  — 
On  some  cheeks  the  Pressman's  totem 
Oza- wa-beek,  or  the  brass-mark, 
Glowed,  as  round  the  board  they  gathered, 
While  the  Manchester  contingent, 
Merry  drivers  of  the  goose- quill  — 
Of  i  he  quills  of  Wa-be-wawa  — 
Mingled  with  thejr  Cockney  brothers 
Mingled,  too,  with  many  Yankees 
From  across  the  Gitche-Gumee  — 
Um.le  Sam's  ink-slinging  nephews. 

If  but  distantly  related 

Yet  in  universal  kinship 

Held  by  bonds  of  gratis  luncheon. 


On  his  left  was  Hale,  the  Consul, 

From  his  eagle  eyes  out  flashing 

Uncle  Sam's  reflected  glory! 

In  the  vice -chair  sat  Nathaniel  — 

"  Nate  "  they  call  him  in  the  programmes, 

Star-tongued  Salsbury,  William's  partner, 

Wary  wielder  of  straight  language. 

Stalwart  John  of  Arizona  — 

Major  Burke,  sun -browned  and  war  8carred} 

Like  Ke-neu,  the  great  war-eagle 

Hovered  round  about,  the  table  — 

Kept  the  laughing  wine-cup  flowing. 

Unk-ta-hee,  the  god  of  water 

Didn-t  Lave  a  look-in  at  us! 

And  the  store  of  food  outlandish 
Disappeared  before  the  Pressmen: 
Dish  by  dish  in  swift  destruction 
Melted  in  the  purple  distance. 
Bean  soup  first  and  then  fried  oysters; 
Ribs  of  Pez-he-kee,  the  bison, 
Served  on  plates  of  tin  and  garnished 
With  the  sweet  corn,  thcMon  da-min-* 
"Eaten  in  true  savage  fashion; 
Knife  and  fork  alike  forbidden  — 
Gnaw  the  bone  and  suck  your  fingers, 
That's  the  way  to  cop  the  flavor  — 
Of  the  noble  redskin's  rib -roast. 

Pork  and  beans,  that's  Boston's  glory, 
Buck  wheat  cakes  and  thick  molasses 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    BUFFALO   BILL. 


759 


Hominy  and  piccalilli, 

Went  their  way  to  bright  Po-ne-mah. 

To  the  Land  of  the  Hereafter. 

All  the  while  a  rhythmic  plashing  — 
Mu-way-aush-ka,  sound  of  sea  waves!— 
Pop  of  corks,  and  clink  of  glasses, 
Told  the  dark -eyed  Pa-he-haska  — 
Told  the  stalwart  Colonel  Cody 
That  his  guests  were  not  neglectful : 
They  could  stand  it  long  as  he  could, 
Possibly  might  stand  it  longer ! 
******* 

Shall  I  tell  you  of  the  speeches, 

Of  the  pow-wow  and  palaver? 

How  the  Mayor  pledg'd  Buffalo  William, 

How  the  Consul  praised  his  valor, 

Told  how  in  the  fight  he'd  met  him, 

On  the  field  of  death  —  of  Pau-guk? 

How  Nate  Salsbury's  health,  twice  toasted, 

Made  him  feel  done  brown  on  both  sides. 

How  Red  Shirt,  the  fighting  chieftain, 

Spoke  in  paragraphic  Choctaw, 

Telling  us,  as  'twas  translated, 

That  he  loved  his  pale -face  brothers 

Better  than  he  loved  his  dinner, 

And  would  meet  us  up  in  heaven  — 

In  the  Land  of  bright  Po-ne-mah?  — 

(Red  Shirt  doesn't  seem  to  know  us,. 

Has  not  seen  us  paint  the  town  red  3)  — 

How  the  Pressmen  all  responded 

"  Ugh  ! "  which  means  in  English  "  Rather ! " 

How  we  pledged  the  noble  chieftain 

Till  we  saw  two  Red  Shirts  looming— 


Looming  through  the  pale  Puk-wanm  — 
Through  the  clouds  of  much  tobacco? 

No;  I'll  spare  my  paleface  kinsmen 
All  the  pain  of  that  recital, 
Just  as  I'd  not  rather  dwell  on 
Certain  subsequent  proceedings; 
Or  our  feelings  in  the  morning. 
When  the  med'cine  men,  the  Me-das, 
Gave  us  physic  antibilious 
So  that  we  might  keep  our  end  up, 
Keep  our  end  up,  and  look  sober. 

Gone  are  all  those  London  persons, 
Swept  they  southward,  wild  and  boozy. 
Like  the  cloud- wrack  of  a  tempest, 
Like  the  withered  leaves  of  autumn 
Scattered  by  Wild  West  tornado ; 
And  their  Shaw-shaws,  their  big  swallows, 
Now  mop  up  the  damp  in  Fleet-street, 
Mop  up  all  superfluous  moisture. 

Buffalo  William  still  is  with  us, 
So's  Buck  Taylor,  so  is  Red  Shirt, 
And  the  Major's  convalescing 
Bet  your  life,  he's  still  on  deck  here! 
Still  the  Wild  West  Show  is  booming. 
Booming  just  as  it  deserves  to, 
If  I  say  the  thing  that  is  not, 
Call  me  Ya-goo,  call  me  liar  I 

But  whene'er  that  feed's  repeated, 
Call  me  Early,  Major  darling, 
Call  me  not  too  late  for  dinner! 


ENGLISH   LOVE    OF   SPORT   ILLUSTRATED. 

Bancroft  Library 

Good  Friday  came  at  last  in  the  midst  of  our  flood-tide  of" 
success,  and  I  determined  to  devote  the  afternoon  of  the  general 
holiday  to  a  change  of  programme.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  di- 
rectors we  secured  the  use  of  the  Manchester  race-track  for  a 
series  of  open-air  horse  races  and  athletic  sports  by  the  members 
of  the  company,  red  and  white,  including  hurdle-races,  bare- 
backed horsemanship,  and  so  forth.  The  hold  we  had  gained 
upon  the  popular  appreciation,  and  the  eagerness  with  which  an 
Englishman  starts  at  the  mere  mention  of  a  horse-race  were 
never  more  thoroughly  evidenced.  The  day  was  ushered  in  with 
gloom  and  weeping  skies,  and  our  hearts  sank  within  us  as  we 
realized  that  Jupiter  Pluvius  was  sticking  to  us  worse  than  a 


76ft  STORY   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

brother  and  had  turned  on  a  special  watering-pot  for  the  occa> 
sion.  The  downpour  increased  as  the  morning  wore  on,  and  at 
three  o'clock,  the  hour  for  commencement,  the  weather  was 
simply  poisonous.  Both  Major  Burke  and  I  were  in  despair, 
but  presently  we  had  reason  to  rub  our  eyes,  and  our  feelings  of 
depression  gave  way  to  astonishment.  From  all  parts,  in  car- 
riages, omnibuses,  horse-cars,  and  on  foot  a  huge  concourse  of 
sport-loving  Britons,  braving  the  fury  of  the  elements,  com- 
menced to  pour  in  upon  us  and  in  a  short  time  our  money-takers, 
at  the  six  entrances  to  the  race-ground,  were  wrestling  for  dear 
life  with  the  eager  throngs  who  fought  for  admission.  A  total 
attendance  of  nearly  30,000  was  recorded,  and  as  a  reward  for 
their  fortitude  the  weather  presently  cleared  up  and  kept  fine 
during  the  progress  of  the  sports.  Again  we  had  to  register  a 
success,  and  the  day  of  our  first  al  fresco  entertainment  in  Man- 
chester is  marked  with  a  white  stone  in  the  records  of  the 
camp. 

Amongst  the  many  pleasant  memories  of  our  stay  in  Manches- 
ter, I  shall  especially  cherish  the  hospitality  extended  to  me  by 
the  Freemasons,  who  muster  very  strongly  in  the  district,  and  at 
whose  lodges  I  was  frequently  an  honored  guest.  A  mark  of  es- 
pecial honor  from  this  occult  and  powerful  body  was  a  public 
presentation  of  a  magnificent  gold  watch,  in  the  name  of  the 

Freemasons  of  England,  by  Worshipful  Master ,  after  a 

performance  of  the  Wild  West.  Amongst  the  troops  of  friends 
whom  I  have  made  in  the  old  country,  I  am  delighted  to  record 
that  I  am  now  and  forever  solid  with  the  great  and  generous 
body  of  English  Masons,  whose  Grand  Master  is  the  Prince  of 
Wales  himself. 

With  such  little  amenities  our  labors  were  enlivened  and  our 
sojourn  in  the  smoky  city  made  very  pleasant  to  us.  We  found 
that  each  week  our  friendships  were  extending  and  the  kindly 
people  began  to  regard  us  more  and  more  as  their  neighbors  and 
the  Wild  West  as  an  established  institution  amongst  them.  But 
our  engagements  in  the  land  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  fixed 
and  unalterable  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians ;  and 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF   BUFFALO   BILL.  761 

though  the  opening  of  bright  spring  weather  was  bringing  an  ex- 
traordinary pressure  of  business  upon  us,  it  was  necessary  to 
tear  ourselves  away. 

HONORED    BY   THE   MAYOR   OF    SALFORD. 

Our  season  in  Manchester  was  a  grand  success  in  every  way, 
during  which  I  had  made  so  many  pleasant  acquaintances  among 
the  citizens  that  notwithstanding  my  longing  for  home  and 
America,  it  was  with  many  painful  feelings  that  we  prepared  to 
take  our  departure.  A  few  days  before  taking  leave  of  the 
scene  of  our  magnificent  triumphs  I  received  the  following  letter 
from  the  Mayor  of  Salf ord :  — 

MANCHESTER,  March  9th,  1888. 

DEAR  SIR  :  —  It  may  interest  you  to  know  that  I  have  named 
three  streets  on  the  New  Barnes  estate,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Kace-course,  as  follows:  Cody  street;  Buffalo  street;  and  Bill 
street,  and  plans  for  their  construction  will  be  submitted  to  the 
Salf  ord  corporation  shortly. 

These  names  will  perpetuate  the  names  of  yourself  and  your 
show  after  your  departure  from  Salf  ord. 

Yours  truly, 

JOSHUA  BURY. 
The  Hon.  W.  F.  Cody, 
Wild  West  Show,  Salford. 

All  the  Manchester  papers  contained,  on  the  19th  of  April, 
generous  notices  of  the  action  of  Mayor  Bury  in  thus  perpetu- 
ating my  memory  among  the  good  people  of  his  populous  dis- 
trict. As  a  sample  of  the  press  comments  I  extract  the  follow- 
ing from  the  Manchester  Courier:  — 

BUFFALO  BILL' j  ROAD,  SALFORD.  — Adjoining  the  Wild  West  Show  at  New 
Barnes,  and  between  there  and  the  cemetery,  the  contractor  for  the  Ship 
Canal  is  busy  converting  acres  of  low-lying,  and  in  some  places  swampy,  land 
into  good  building  land  by  placing  thereon  the  "  spoil "  obtained  from 
the  big  Salford  dock.  Within  the  next  decade  great  changes  in  the 
district  are  manifestly  impending.  Long  streets  and  broad  must  be 
formed,  one  of  the  leading  and  main  of  which  is  to  be  appropri- 


762  8*OB?f   OF   THE   WILD    WEST. 

ately  named  Buffalo  Bill's  road.  When  completed  In  the  near  future,  it  will 
be  a  lengthy,  broad,  and  busy  avenue  for  traffic  from  the  Ship  Canal  banks 
near  Mode  Wheel,  into  Salford.  The  road  will  commence  at  a  point  near 
where  the  buffalo,  elk,  etc.,  are  at  present  housed,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Wild 
West  Show,  and  will  extend  along  the  boundary  of  the  Race-course,  in  a  due 
south-westerly  direction,  for  nearly  1,000  yards.  The  local  perpetuation  of  the 
name  of  Buffalo  Bill  and  of  his  remarkable  entertainment  is  thus  ensured.  It 
is  expected  that  the  Hon.  W.  F.  Cody  (Buffalo  Bill)  will  perambulate  the  site 
of  the  intended  road  previous  to  his  departure  for  New  York  at  the  beginning 
of  next  month. 

A   MAGNIFICENT   OVATION. 

On  Monday  evening  May  1st,  we  gave  the  last  indoor  repre- 
sentation, in  the  presence  of  a  vast  and  one  of  the  most  enthusi- 
astic audiences  I  ever  appeared  before ;  bouquets  were  presented 
to  various  members  of  the  company  and  when  I  appeared  I  met 
with  one  of  the  warmest  receptions  of  my  life :  bouquets  were 
thrown,  handed  and  carried  into  the  arena  to  me  while  the  vast 
audience  cheered,  waved  hats,  umbrellas  and  handkerchiefs, 
jumped  upon  their  feet,  and  in  fact  the  scene  was  very  suggestive 
of  a  pandemonium.  It  was  fully  five  minutes  before  the  noise 
subsided  sufficiently  to  enable  us  to  proceed  with  the  perform- 
ance. 

Every  act  went  with  a  rush  and  a  cheer,  and  was  received  by 
cries  of  "  bravo,"  "  well  done,"  etc.  At  the  close  of  the  exhi- 
bition calls  were  made  for  Red  Shirt  and  myself,  in  response  to 
which  I  thanked  my  patrons  and  assured  them  that  the  recollec- 
tion of  that  evening's  display  of  kindness  would  ever  be  fresh  in 
my  memory.  Cries  of  "  bravo  Bill"  and  the  singing  of  "  For 
he's  a  jolly  good  fellow  "  by  the  entire  audience  brought  the 
demonstration  to  a  close. 

On  Tuesday  afternoon  I  was  given  a  benefit  by  the  race-course 
people,  on  which  occasion  I  concluded  to  give  our  outdoor  per- 
formance on  the  race-course  and  despite  the  unfavorable  weather 
the  turn-stiles  showed  that  nearly  50,000  people  had  paid  admis- 
sion to  the  grounds.  This  audience,  like  the  one  in  the  building 
the  previous  evening,  was  also  very  enthusiastic  and  the  people 
seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  ip  showering  applause  upon  the 
various  acts  and  f  eaturbv. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  BUFFALO  BILL.  763 

A  RACE  FOR  $2,500. 

Our  Wild  West  performances  in  Manchester  were  now  at  a 
close  but  having  two  or  three  days  to  spare  I  concluded  to  accept 
a  challenge  made  some  days  previously  by  Mr.  B.  Goodall,  a  noted 
horse  breeder  of  Altrincham,  for  an  international  ten-mile  race 
between  his  English  thoroughbreds  and  my  American  bronchos, 
for  £500  a  side.  The  riders  were  J.  Latham  for  Goodall  and 
Tony  Esquivel  for  me,  and  the  conditions  were  that  each  rider 
should  change  horses  without  assistance  at  the  completion  of 
each  half  mile.  The  afternoon  was  fine  with  the  exception  of  one 
fierce  though  fleeting  rain  storm.  At  five  minutes  to  three  o'clock 
thirteen  of  our  bronchos,  saddled  with  heavy  cow-boy  saddles, 
were  brought  into  the  enclosure  and  about  ten  minutes  later 
nine  English  thoroughbreds  made  their  appearance.  The  men 
mounted  their  first  horses  at  3:20  and  got  away  well,  Latham  at 
once  taking  the  lead.  The  Englishman  effected  his  first  change 
with  an  advantage  but  on  the  next  occasion  he  lost  this  and  Tony 
went  to  the  front.  Latham,  however,  gained  a  little  for  some 
succeeding  minutes.  There  was  no  question  of  the  speed  of  his 
horses,  but  Tony  was  more  adroit  in  changing,  and  before  many 
laps  were  over  he  led  the  Englishman  by  a  good  two  furlongs. 
Then  for  a  time  Tony  lost  ground  but  Latham  never  succeeded 
in  overhauling  him  and  he  passed  the  post  300  yards  ahead, 
having  made  the  remarkable  time  of  twenty-one  minutes.  Wild 
enthusiasm  was  manifested  throughout  the  race  by  the  20,000 
spectators  and  at  the  termination  of  their  arduous  task  both  vic- 
torious Tony  and  defeated  Latham  were  loudly  cheered. 

AN  ENTHUSIASTIC  FAREWELL. 

On  Friday  morning  May  4th,  at  11  a.  m.,  amid  the  cheers, 
well  wishes  and  hand  shaking  of  the  vast  crowd  who  had  gathered 
to  see  us  depart,  we  pulled  slowly  out  of  the  Windsor  Bridge 
station  of  the  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire  Railway  en  route  by 
special  passenger  train  for  Hull,  where  after  giving  our  farewell 
English  performance  we  were  to  embark  for  home.  The  time  of 
the  arrival  of  our  train  at  the  various  stations  had  become  gener- 


764  STORT   OF   THE   WILD   WEST. 

ally  known,  and  all  along  the  entire  route  we  were  met  by  vast 
crowds  who  cheered  and  wished  us  God  speed.  Upon  our  arrival 
at  Hull  the  crowd  was  so  large  that  it  was  necessary  to  send  for 
a  squad  of  police  to  enable  us  to  make  our  way  through  them 
from  the  station  to  the  conveyances.  On  Saturday  afternoon, 
May  5th,  we  gave  our  farewell  performance  in  England,  at  Hull, 
before  an  enormous  crowd  and  that  evening  at  9  o'clock  our  en- 
tire effects  were  aboard  the  good  ship  Persian  Monarch  which, 
under  the  command  of  the  brave,  gallant  and  courteous  Captain 
Bristow,  was  to  leave  her  moorings  at  3  a.  m.  the  next  morning 
for  New  York.  We  had  chartered  the  ship  for  this  trip  and  had 
everything  to  ourselves,  and  all  evening  the  vast  crowds  who  lined 
the  docks  cheered,  sang  songs  and  wished  us  bon  voyage.  A 
great  many  even  remained  until  our  departure  and  went  wild 
with  excitement  when  they  saw  us  as  a  company  leave  their  shores 
perhaps  for  ever. 

A    PATHETIC    INCIDENT  AT   SEA. 

The  homeward  voyage  was  marked  with  one  very  distressing 
and  pathetic  incident  to  me  in  the  loss  of  my  favorite  horse 
Charlie,  that  I  had  ridden  for  fifteen  years  in  sunshine  and  in 
storm,  in  days  of  adversity  as  well  as  of  prosperity,  and  to  whose 
fleetness  of  foot  I  owed  my  life  on  more  than  one  occasion  when 
pursued  by  Indians.  He  stood  the  voyage  very  well,  apparently, 
until  May  14th,  and  even  on  the  morning  of  that  day  when 
I  visited  him  he  seemed  to  be  as  well  as  usual. 

A  few  minutes  after  leaving  him,  however,  a  groom  ran  to 
me  and  told  me  he  had  a  chill.  We  did  everything  we  could  for 
him,  but  it  was  useless.  He  had  lung  fever,  and  after  three 
days'  illness  he  died.  We  could  almost  understand  each  other, 
and  I  felt  very  deeply.  The  sailors  stitched  him  up  in  canvas 
and  he  lay  all  day  Thursday,  the  17th,  on  deck,  covered  with 
the  American  flag.  At  8  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  dropped  the 
body,  properly  weighted,  into  the  ocean.  I  did  think  of  bring- 
ing him  on  here  and  burying  him  in  his  native  soil,  but  finally 
concluded  not  to  do  so. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   BUFFALO    BILL. 


OUR  ARRIVAL  IN  NEW  YORK  HARBOR. 

We  arrived  off  New  York  harbor  some  time  during  the  night 
of  the  19th  and  by  daylight  of  the  20th  steamed  up  toward  Staten 
Island,  where  we  were  to  debark.  The  reception  accorded  us 
is  thus  graphically  described  by  the  New  York  World :  — 

The  harbor  has  probably  never  known  a  more  picturesque  scene  than  was  wit- 
nessed yesterday  morning,  when  the  Persian  Monarch  steamed  up  from  Quaran- 
tine, with  Buffalo  Bill  standing  on  the  captain's  bridge,  his  tall  and  striking 
figure  clearly  outlined  and  his  long  hair  waving  in  the  wind,  with  the  gaily 
painted  and  blanketed  Indians  leaning  over  the  ship's  rail,  with  the  flags  of  all 
nations  fluttering  from  the  masts  and  connecting  cables,  and  the  band  playing 
"  Yankee  Doodle"  with  a  vim  and  enthusiasm  which  faintly  indicated  the  joy 
felt  by  everybody  connected  with  the  Wild  West  exhibition,  including  the  mu- 
sicians, over  the  sight  of  home.  The  stolid  Indians  had  lost  their  stolidity,  and 
the  white  men  ou  board  declared  that  from  the  time  the  rising  sun  had  en- 
abled the  redskins  to  discover  America,  or  that  part  of  it  known  as  Staten  Island, 
unwonted  bustle  and  excitement  had  reigned  supreme. 

Cut  Meat,  American  Bear,  Flat  Iron,  Tall  Horse,  Kills  Plenty  and  scores  more  of 
chiefs,  braves  and  squaws  hugged  the  ship's  side  and  watched  every  movement 
of  the  accompanying  tugs  until  the  great  vessel  was  towed  up  alongside  the 
long  wharf  at  Tomkinsville,  and  the  huzzas  of  two  thousand  small  boys  and  the 
noisy  excitement  of  what  seemed  to  be  Staten  Island's  entire  population.  And 
it  was  a  great  day  for  Staten  Island.  So  far  as  is  known  the  Persian  Monarch  is 
the  first  great  ocean  steamer  which  has  ever  landed  there,  and  this,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  unusual  nature  of  her  passengers  and  her  cargo,  furnished 
abundant  reason  for  the  greatest  possible  commotion,  excitement  and  disturb- 
ance whereof  Mr.  Wiman's  small  kingdom  is  capable. 

All  the  teamsters  for  miles  around  had  been  engaged  to  carry  the  outfit  of 
the  exhibition  and  of  the  exhibitors  across  the  island  to  Erastina,  and  the  wharf 
was  in  consequence  a  confused  commingling  of  express  wagons,  butcher  carts 
carpenter's  wagons  and  other  kinds  of  vehicles,  with  horses  attached  generally 
on  their  haunches,  in  response  to  the  excited  demands  of  vociferous  drivers. 
If  this  scene  needed  any  further  animation  it  was  provided  by  the  small  boys 
dodging  imminent  death,  and  scores  of  pretty  girls  in  their  Sunday  best, 
scurry  ing  a  way  from  out  the  reach  of  the  horses'  indiscriminate  hoofs. 

The  landing  was  at  last  effected,  and  Buffalo  Bill,  with  his  daughter  and 
Major  Burke,  the  general  manager  of  the  Wild  West,  Col.  Ochiltree,  George 
Trimble  Davidson- and  several  reporters,  came  up  to  the  city  on  the  tugboat 
Charles  Stickney.  Nate  Salsbury,  Col.  Cody's  partner,  remained  on  the  island 
and  during  the  day  the  Indians  and  cowboys,  with  their  tents,  the  Indian 
ponies  and  bucking  horses,  the  Deadwood  coach  and  emigrant  wagons  and 
all  the  paraphernalia  of  the  show  were  transferred  to  Erastina. 


766  STORY  OP  THE  WILD   WEST 

/ 

I  cannot  describe  my  joy  upon  stepping  again  on  the  shore  of 
beloved  America.  Though  I  had  received  such  honors  while  abroad 
as  few  persons  have  been  favored  with,  and  scored  a  triumph,  both 
socially  and  professionally,  that  may  well  excite  my  pride,  yet  "  there 
is  no  place  like  home,"  nor  is  there  a  flag  like  the  old  flag. 

With  the  happiness  of  returning  to  my  own  country  again  came  a 
double  portion  of  joy  in  meeting  with  so  many  old  friends  whose  arms 
opened  to  welcome  me.  But  of  the  particular  pleasures  of  these  glad 
meetings  it  does  not  become  me  to  speak  now,  since  the  space  at  my 
disposal  is  already  exhausted. 

The  following  letter,  which  I  received  from  General  Sherman,  will 
serve  to  show  the  influence  of  the  Wild  West  Exhibitions  in  London, 
in  forging  closer  ties  of  friendship,  binding  the  mother  country  to  her 
brawny  and  intellectual  offspring,  our  own  beloved  America.  In  this 
letter  the  General  concurs  in  the  sentiments  expressed  by  the  several 
London  papers  as  quoted  in  preceding  pages ;  and  I  may  add,  that  this 
result  is  more  gratifying  to  me  than  all  my  other  triumphs  : 

HON.  WM.  F.  CODY.  FIFTH  AVENUE  HOTEL,  NEW  YORK. 

DEAR  CODY, — In  common  with  all  your  countrymen,  T  want  to  let 

you  know  that  I  am  not  only  gratified,  but  proud  of  your  management  and  general  beha- 
vior; so  far  as  I  can  make  out  you  have  been  modest,  graceful  and  dignified  in  all  you  have 
done  to  illustrate  the  history  of  civilization  on  this  Continent  during  the  past  century.  I 
am  especially  pleased  with  the  graceful  and  pretty  compliment  paid  you  by  the  Princess  of 
Wales,  who  rode  with  you  in  the  Deadwood  Coach  whfie  it  was  attacked  by  the  Indians, 
and  rescued  by  the  Cowboys.  Such  things  did  occur  in  our  days,  but  may  never  again. 
As  near  as  I  can  estimate  there  were  in  1865  about  nine  and  a  half  millions  of  buffaloes  on 
the  plains  between  the  Missouri  River  and  the  Rocky  Mountains;  all  are  now  gone — killed 
for  their  meat,  their  skins  and  bones.  This  seems  like  desecration,  cruelty  and  murder,  yet 
they  have  been  replaced  by  twice  as  many  neat  cattle.  At  that  date  there  were  about 
165,000  Pawnees,  Sioux,  Cheyennes,  Kiowas  and  Arapahoes,  who  depended  on  these  buffa- 
loes for  their  yearly  food.  They,  too,  are  gone,  and  have  been  replaced  by  twice  or  thrice 
as  many  white  men  and  women,  who  have  made  the  earth  to  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  who 
can  be  counted,  taxed  and  governed  by  the  laws  of  nature  and  civilization.  This  change 
has  been  salutary,  and  will  go  on  to  the  end.  You  have  caught  one  epoch  of  the  world's 
history,  have  illustrated  it  in  the  very  heart  of  the  modern  world — London — and  I  want  you 
to  feel  that  on  this  side  the  water  we  appreciate  it. 

This  drama  must  end ;  days,  years  and  centuries  follow  fast,  even  the  drama  of  civilization 
must  have  an  end.  All  I  aim  to  accomplish  on  this  sheet  of  paper  is  to  assure  you  that  I 
fully  recognize  your  work,  and  that  the  presence  of  the  Queen,  the  beautiful  Princess  of 
Wales,  the  Prince,  and  British  public,  are  marks  of  favor  which  reflect  back  on  America 
sparks  of  light  which  illuminate  many  a  house  and  cabin  in  the  land  where  once  you  guided 
me  honestly  and  faithfully  in  1865-6  from  Fort  Riley  to  Kearney  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska. 
Sincerely,  your  friend.  W.  T.  SHERMAN. 


